Former Vanguard Newspaper Staff Bags 14 Years In Jail For N3.1 Million Fraud

Badmus Abiodun, was on Tuesday sentenced to 14-years in prison by Justice Oluwatoyin Ipaye of an Ikeja High Court for forgery and stealing N3.1million. The money belongs to the media house.

“The defendant is hereby sentenced to seven years in prison on count one. He is sentenced to seven years in prison each for counts two to eight. The prison terms for counts two to eight are to run concurrently,” the judge said.

Mr. Abiodun, a middle-age man and a resident of No. 5, Tijani Ashogbon St., Bariga, Lagos was convicted of an eight-count charge of conspiracy. Two of the charges filed against him by EFCC, are stealing and forgery.

Mr. Abiodun was initially arraigned alongside Samuel Ogbole, the Vanguard Media Representative for Onitsha. Mr. Ogbole, however, absconded when bail was granted to the duo by the court after their arraignment and still remains at large.

According to the EFCC prosecutor, Abba Mohammed, Mr. Abiodun committed the offences alongside Mr. Ogbole between January 9, 2006 and January 4, 2008. “The convict and his accomplice on various dates illegally converted the sum of N400,000, N2.5million and N120,000 belonging to the complainant.

On January 16, 2007, the duo conspired to and forged a Wema Bank deposit slip with No. 7125699 purporting to be the value of N225, 165. On May 30, 2007, the men conspired to and forge a Wema Bank deposit slip with No. 3270712 purporting to be the value of N256, 850,” Mohammed said.