BY TIMOTHY AGBOR, OSOGBO
Four siblings and two others remanded in prison for allegedly stealing the sum of N219,000 belonging to a Chief Magistrate in Osun State, Emmanuel Aluko, has been freed by an Osogbo Magistrate’s Court.
The Police in the state had arrested the six young men for hacking the email account of the magistrate where they obtained Aluko’s Bank Verification Number and stole a sum of N219, 000 from his account afterwards.
The siblings, Lucky Daniel, aged 19, Joel Daniel, 22, Odafe Daniel, 24, Ezekiel Daniel, 16, were arraigned in court alongside two others accused persons, 21-year-old Kamorudeen Sodiq and 17-year-old Ayomide Olajide on a seven-count charge bordering on conspiracy, cybercrime and breach of peace.
Upon first arraignment on October 18, 2023, the police informed the court that the first defendant, Lucky Daniel, used computer and phone gadget to intercept the bank account of Aluko and withdrew a sum of N19, 000 from his Zenith Bank Plc account, Osogbo, and a sum of N200,000 from his Living Trust Mortgage Bank account.
“That you Daniel Lucky, Daniel Joel, Daniel Odafe, Sodiq Kamorudeen, Daniel Ezekiel, and Ayomide Olajide on the 2nd and 4th day of October, 2023 at Living Trust Mortgage Bank and Zenith Bank Plc Osogbo in the Osogbo Magisterial District did conspire among yourselves to commit felony to wit obstruction, threat of defamation of character and conduct likely to cause breach of peace and thereby committed an offence contrary to and punishable under Section 516 of the Criminal Code Cap 34 Vol. II laws of Osun State of Nigeria 2002,” the first count read.
Speaking before the court, the police prosecutor, Inspector Saheed Anifowose, noted that the suspects committed the offence from Lagos State.
Anifowose disclosed that the accused persons were tracked down to Lagos before they were arrested.
He stated that the police were attacked by the suspects while trying to arrest them.
When asked by the court how the fraud was carried out, the first defendant, Lucky, told the court that they hacked into the email account of the magistrate through his phone number, saying that they were able to get his BVN from his email.
The 19-year-old accused person disclosed that he created a Palmpay account with the name of the Magistrate in which they used in collecting the money.
The alleged offence, according to the police, violated Sections 516, 249(d), 404, 390(9), 484 of the Criminal Code, Cap 34, Vol. II, Laws of Osun, 2002 and Sections 14(1), 14(3) of the Cybercrime (Prohibition, Prevention) Act, 2015.
However, the first defendant pleaded guilty to five out of the seven count charges leveled against him while others pleaded not guilty to all the charges.
In his ruling, the presiding Magistrate, Olusegun Ayilara, admitted Joel Daniel, Odafe Daniel, Ezekiel Daniel, Sodiq and Olajide to bail in the sum of N500,000 and two sureties each which must include a civil servant in Osun State.
Ayilara remanded the first accused person, Daniel, in Ilesa Correctional Centre, just as he adjourned the case for presentation of fact against Lucky.
Unable to meet up with the bail conditions, all the defendants were remanded in Ilesa prison custody.
When the matter was mentioned recently, the prosecutor informed the court that the complainant had withdrawn the matter against the defendants who had already spent about a month in jail.
Delivering his ruling, Magistrate Ayilara ordered that the phones of the young defendants be destroyed and warned them against committing any offence again.
He, thereafter, struck out the charge.
