The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, on Thursday, September 26, 2019, presented its first witness against Isaac Fayose, who is standing trial for advance fee fraud before Justice Binta Muhammad of the Federal Capital Territory, FCT High Court, Lugbe.
At the resumed trial today, the prosecution counsel, Jude Obozuwa, presented Joe Onyiuke as witness. He told the court that he met Isaac Fayose sometime in 2009 and that he later visited him visited in his office and told him about a project he was about to start.
“Then I was working on classified assets as regional head. He took me to a property and told me it was given to him by his mother-in-law. It was a one storey building. He wanted to use it to fund a lounge or a restaurant,” Onyiuke said.
According to the witness, the property is located along Alex Ekwueme Road, opposite Jabi Lake, Abuja and hosts two churches, one, located upstairs and the other downstairs.
“The church upstairs was moving out when we visited. He said the church downstairs belonged to his personal friend and that he would allow him to stay there temporarily. He told me it was a serious business that he wanted us to do and we had to enter into agreement for the project.
“I released several amounts of money to him through one Samuel Ogala. But considering how far we have gone in the deal, I asked him about his own contribution. He gave me bogus figures and we agreed to appoint a quantity surveyor at that point and he came back and told me that he was no longer interested in the agreement,” the witness said.
Onyiuke told the court that there were evidences of the signed agreement between them adding that the first agreement was a joint venture agreement.
“The agreement took care of all the funds he collected from me through one Samuel Ogala. The rent was N8million (Eight Million Naira) for two years, amounting to N16million (Sixteen Million Naira) with a legal fee of N1.7million (One Million Seven Hundred Thousand Naira), totaling N17.6million (Seventeen Million Six Hundred Thousand). The agreement acknowledged the receipt of all the funds. I raised an objection that Isaac has to tell me when the Redeemed Christian Church of God will vacate the property and he told me that they will leave in two weeks and I brought a plain sheet of paper and asked him to write it down on paper,” he said.
The witness further revealed that the Redeemed Christian Church of God did not vacate the property, even after five months, prompting him to ask for the refund of his expenses.
“I told Isaac that he has to refund my money, which he didn’t. I put a call to him and he told me that he was just released from police cell. It was then that I realized that I was in trouble. He started threatening my life. I suffered so much blackmail from Isaac from that moment.”
According to him, the defendant went as far as writing the managing director of the bank where he worked urging that he should be investigated on how he got N17.6million he paid for the property.
He also stated that the defendant wrote again to his bank, urging that his private life be investigated on the allegation that he was having an affairs with his wife (defendant’s wife).
“I cleared all the allegations he leveled against me before my bank and showed them everything and the bank gave me an option to beg Isaac to stop tarnishing the bank’s image,” he added.
Justice Muhammad adjourned the case to October 16, 2019, for continuation of trial at the instance of the defence counsel, Pascal Ngwu.