A Federal High Court presided over by Justice Chukwujekwu Aneke in Lagos State has ordered Oba Otudeko to take a plea in the charges filed against him
A Federal High Court presided over by Justice Chukwujekwu Aneke in Lagos State has ordered Oba Otudeko to take a plea in the charges filed against him.
With this judgment, the founder and chairman of the Honeywell Group will have to make a physical appearance in court to answer to allegations made against him.
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission,EFCC, has filed a 13-count charge against Oba Otudeko and three others, accusing them of involvement in an alleged ₦30 billion loan fraud.
During Monday’s proceedings, the judge declared that Otudeko must be formally arraigned before any application contesting the court’s jurisdiction can be considered.
“Whatsoever filed by defendant or defendants in a criminal charge can be taken before plea,” he said.
“This court is also bound by the cited decisions. So I agree with the prosecution that based on the current state of the law, no application by the defendant in the criminal matter can be taken or determined by the court before arraignment.”
Justice Aneke adjourned the case to May 8 for further proceedings.
The allegations against Otudeko trace back to August 2024, when Adesuwa Ezenwa, a former relationship manager at First Bank, testified before the National Industrial Court that loans worth billions of naira were funneled to companies linked to Otudeko, despite being officially granted to other firms.
In January, the EFCC formally charged Otudeko and three others with alleged financial fraud. The co-defendants in the case include Stephen Olabisi Onasanya, a former Group Managing Director of First Bank of Nigeria; Soji Akintayo, an ex-board member of Honeywell Flour Mills Plc; and Anchorage Limited, a company associated with Otudeko.
The EFCC alleges that between 2013 and 2014, the defendants fraudulently secured multiple loan tranches from First Bank, including ₦12.3 billion, ₦5.2 billion, ₦6.2 billion, ₦6.1 billion, and ₦1.5 billion, under the pretense that they were acquired by certain firms.
To support its case, the EFCC plans to present 12 witnesses, including three of its investigators, as well as representatives from First Bank, the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, Stallion Nigeria, and V-Tech Dynamics Limited.
