Thirty-one-year-old Babatunde Ishola and his father, Bayo, have been remanded by the court at the Kirikiri Correctional Centre for allegedly stealing N75m belonging to a lotto company in Lagos State.
The defendants were arraigned on two counts of stealing and diversion of funds at the Yaba Magistrates’ Court in the state.
The duo were alleged to have taken money from the company’s account and diverted it to their accounts and those of their cohorts who are now at large.
In a document signed by the police prosecutor, Mike Enejere, the first defendant, Babatunde, served as the account officer of the lotto company as the funds were diverted between 2020 and 2023.
The charge read in part, “That you, Ishola Mubarak Babatunde, Ishola Rasheed Bayo, and others now at large, between 2020 and 2023, at Lotgrand Limited, a registered lotto company in Lagos, within the Magisterial District of this Honourable Court, conspired amongst yourselves to commit felony to wit stealing. You thereby committed an offence punishable under Section 411 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State 2015.
“That you, Ishola Mubarak Babatunde and others now at large, on the same date, place and within the Magisterial District of the aforementioned, did steal the sum of seventy-five million naira (N75,000,000), property of Lotgrand Limited, Lagos, while you served as the account officer, as you dishonestly and fraudulently diverted the said sum belonging to Lotgrand Limited, a registered lotto company, to your personal account and that of your cohorts.”
“You hereby committed an offence punishable under Section 287 (8) of the Criminal Law of Lagos State 2015.”
The duo were remanded at the Kirikiri Correctional Centre pending the meeting of their bail conditions of N10m with two sureties in like sum.
The Magistrate, Mojisola Salau, adjourned the case till September 3, 2024, for further hearing.
Madukwe B. Nwabuisi is an accomplished journalist renown for his fearless reporting style and extensive expertise in the field. He is an investigative journalist, who has established himself as a kamikaze reporter.