A Magistrate court sitting in Port Harcourt, the Rivers State capital, has remanded Salihu Nasiru Ibrahim, son of a Director at the National Biotechnology Development Agency, in prison custody over fraud and impersonation.
Magistrate A.O. Amadi-Nna held that the court lacks jurisdiction to entertain the criminal matter brought before it, consequently refusing the bail application by the accused.
Ibrahim was reportedly lured from Abuja to Port Harcourt with a promise of intimacy by a lady.
The suspect is standing trial on a Forex Racket involving 15 million naira for procurement of US dollars in a foreign exchange deal.
The accused could neither produce the dollars nor the money transferred to him through his account in three tranches after he claimed his father’s contact at the Central Bank of Nigeria would facilitate the exchange.
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According to the charge sheet sighted by our reporter, he was accused of obtaining 15 million naira from Grace Ogolo to help her convert it to US dollars within CBN-approved rate but defaulted, contravening section 1 of the Advance Fee Fraud Laws of the Federation 2006.
Count two alleged that the accused also forged police identity card, while the prosecutor also told the court that more forgeries were discovered in the course of investigation.
Ruling on the case file on Monday, Magistrate Amadi-Nna held that count 1 falls under the federal laws of Nigeria on advance fee fraud and therefore, the court lacked jurisdiction to grant bail.
The court also held that on count two, the matter would be referred to Director of Public Prosecutor for advice.
Speaking to journalists, counsel to the complainant, Barr. Benjamin Awuse, expressed joy over the ruling, maintaining that the 15 million naira collected by Salihu must be paid in full before the matter could be renegotiated outside the court room.
Our correspondent reports that lawyers to the accused persons were not present in court during the ruling, neither was Ibrahim produced in court.