Yoruba filmmaker, Olajide Kazeem,
aka, Seun Egbegbe, has spent 30 months in prison custody due to his failure to meet his bail conditions.
The erstwhile Lagos socialist,
known for his lavish lifestyle, has been incarcerated since February 10, 2017.
The spokesperson for the Lagos
State Command of the Nigerian Correctional Service, Rotimi Oladokun, confirmed on Tuesday.
“It is not our fault. The N5
million bail bond is yet to be paid neither have any sureties come forward,” Mr
Oladokun said.
”So this means that anytime his
trial comes up, we will take him to the court from the correctional facility.
The only difference is that he would have been reporting to court from his home
if he had met his bail conditions. So for now, Egbegbe remains in our custody
pending fulfillment of bail conditions.”
Background
A Federal High Court in Lagos
granted Mr Egbegbe a bail of N5 million with two sureties each in a sum of N2.5
million on February 24, 2017.
Justice Oluremi Oguntoyinbo of
the Federal High Court ruled that the filmmaker be granted bail once he meets
his bail requirements.
“One of the sureties must be a
civil servant who has attained level 16 while the other surety must be a land
owner in any part of Lagos metropolis.
”The landowner must submit a
Certificate of Ownership of the landed property and while the civil servant
must submit his international passport to the court.
“The sureties must swear to an
affidavit while the house and office addresses and telephone number will be
verified by the court,” the judge ruled then.
Alleged crime
Egbegbe, 43, a controversial
figure in Yoruba movie industry, was arraigned by the police for alleged fraud
involving N39 million; $90,000 and £12,550.
The police alleged that he
fraudulently obtained the money from no fewer than 40 Bureau De Change
operators in Lagos over a period of two years – 2015 to 2017.
Mr Egbegbe, who once managed Fuji
artiste, Wale Ayinde Tekoma, was said to have allegedly swindled the BDC
operators.
He was accused of falsely telling
them he had naira to change into foreign currencies and vice versa.
On March 10, 2017, over 30 BDC
operators stormed the court for the trial.
The film-maker alongside his
alleged accomplice, Oyekan Ayomide, was arraigned before Justice Oguntoyinbo
for 36 counts bordering on advance fee fraud.
Unending legal tussle
The charge sheet was subsequently
amended twice, with the counts eventually increased to 40.
Mr Egbegbe’s trial was sometimes
slowed down due to the inability of the investigating police officers, who were
listed as witnesses, to attend the court proceedings.
His case was again stalled on
November 7, 2017, after a judge fined a police prosecutor, Innocent Anyigor,
N50,000.
The fine was imposed on him
during the previous proceedings after the defence counsel raised an objection
as to the competence of a police officer, Godwin Omaka, to testify in the case.
During his heydays, the
film-maker financed the production of several Yoruba films under his Ebony
Films Productions imprint.
He produced more than 20 movies
including ’Ebony Alhaji’, ’Igbayilola’, ’Tani Kabe?’, ’Kura’, ’Ile Olalewu’,
’Ipo Agba’ and ’Odaran’.
Nigerian actor, Leye Kuti, recently
called out his colleagues for abandoning Egbegbe at such a critical time.
Also, Mr Egbegbe’s publicised
affair with Nollywood actress, Toyin Abraham, a few years ago shot him into
limelight.
The relationship, however, ended
in a controversial manner.
Click to signup for FREE news updates, latest information and hottest gists everyday
Advertise on NigerianEye.com to reach thousands of our daily users
No comments
Post a Comment
Kindly drop a comment below.
(Comments are moderated. Clean comments will be approved immediately)
Advert Enquires - Reach out to us at NigerianEye@gmail.com