The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has arraigned Olorunbukunmi Taiwo, a self-styled native doctor; and his wife, Awolegan Omolola Omotola; over an alleged N1.09 billion contract fraud.
The couple were arraigned before Abubakar Usman, a judge of the federal high court in Ado-Ekiti, on a six-count charge bordering on obtaining money by false pretence and retention of proceeds of crime contrary to Section 17(a) of the EFCC (Establishment) Act, 2004.
According to the charge sheet, the defendants allegedly obtained N1.09 billion from Anazia Colina Kenechukwu, a widow and school proprietor in Delta, under the pretence of funding a road project said to have been awarded by the Delta state Oil Producing Area Development Commission (DESOPADEC).
The EFCC alleged that Taiwo approached the widow, claiming the funds were needed to execute the purported DESOPADEC contract.
“That you, Olorunbukunmi Taiwo and Awolegan Omolola Omotola, sometime between January 2024 and November 2025, in Ilorin within the jurisdiction of this honourable court, with intent to defraud, obtained the sum of N1,098,961,500.00 (One Billion, Ninety-Eight Million, Nine Hundred and Sixty-One Thousand, Five Hundred Naira) from one Anazia Colina Kenechukwu, which was paid to you through Olorunbukunmi Taiwo’s account number 0027303340 domiciled with Access Bank Plc, by falsely representing that same would be used to execute a road construction contract awarded to you by the Delta State Oil Producing Area Development Commission (DESOPADEC), a pretence you knew to be false, and you thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 1(1)(a) of the Advance Fee Fraud and Other Fraud Related Offences Act, 2006 and punishable under Section 1(3) of the same Act,” part of charge sheet reads.
The defendants pleaded not guilty when the charges were read to them.
Following their plea, Sesan Ola, counsel to the EFCC, urged the court to fix a date for trial and order the remand of the defendants.
The trial judge adjourned the hearing of the bail application and commencement of trial to Thursday, June 11, 2026.
Usman also ordered that the defendants be remanded in EFCC facility.