The Ilorin Zonal Directorate of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has arraigned a self-styled native doctor, Olorunbukunmi Taiwo, and his wife, Awolegan Omolola Omotola, before a Federal High Court in Ado-Ekiti on a six-count charge of obtaining money by false pretence and retention of proceeds of crime.
The charge, filed under Section 17(a) of the EFCC (Establishment) Act, 2004, relates to an alleged contract fraud totalling N1,098,961,500.
According to the EFCC, the case was triggered by a petition from Anazia Colina Kenechukwu, a widow and proprietor of a private school in Delta State, who alleged that Taiwo approached her to finance a road construction contract purportedly awarded to him by the Delta State Oil Producing Area Development Commission (DESOPADEC). She alleged that a total of N1,980,000,000 was paid into Taiwo’s Access Bank account in connection with the scheme.
Investigators further found that the couple allegedly invested proceeds of the fraud in two properties in Ado-Ekiti — Town Tavern Lounge at 1 Ikere Road, off Florence Court School, and a four-bedroom bungalow at Florence Court, Irewolede Estate. The EFCC secured an interim attachment of both properties on May 25, 2026.
Count 2 of the charge states that between January 2024 and November 2025, the defendants obtained N1,098,961,500 from Kenechukwu by falsely representing that the funds would be used to execute a DESOPADEC road construction contract — a claim they allegedly knew to be false. The offence is charged under Section 1(1)(a) of the Advance Fee Fraud and Other Fraud Related Offences Act, 2006.
Both defendants pleaded not guilty when the charge was read before Justice Abubakar Usman. EFCC counsel Sesan Ola applied for a trial date and the remand of the defendants, which the court granted. Justice Usman adjourned the matter to June 11, 2026, for hearing of the bail application and commencement of trial, and ordered that the defendants be held in the EFCC’s custody in the interim.
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