The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has arraigned a businessman, Wilson Opuwei, alongside his company, Dateline Energy Services Limited, before the Special Offences Court sitting in Ikeja, Lagos, over an alleged $550,000 kerosene fraud.
Gatekeepers News Opuwei was arraigned before Justice Olubunmi Abike-Fadipe on a four-count charge bordering on obtaining by false pretences and stealing.
The defendant was initially arraigned on May 23, 2011, before Justice Habeeb Abiru of the Lagos State High Court, but the case was later affected by multiple transfers following Abiru’s elevation to the Court of Appeal. As a result, the matter was reassigned to Justice Abike-Fadipe for trial de novo.
According to the prosecution, led by Nwandu Ukoha, who held brief for Fadeke Giwa, Opuwei allegedly obtained the sum of $550,000 in April 2011 in Lagos from a businessman, Prince Donatus, under the false pretence that he would supply 5,000 metric tonnes of kerosene through the Pipeline Products and Marketing Company (PPMC)—a claim the prosecution said he knew to be false.
Opuwei pleaded not guilty when the charges were read to him in court.
The prosecution told the court that it had closed its case about nine years earlier but that the defence failed to open its case, thereby necessitating a fresh trial. The defence, however, countered this claim, stating that it had commenced its case about five years ago.
Counsel to the defendant explained that the matter, originally handled by Justice Abiru, was appealed in 2012 and subsequently heard by Justices Adeniyi Onigbanjo and Lateef Lawal-Akapo, who has since been elevated to the Court of Appeal, before it was finally reassigned to Justice Abike-Fadipe.
The defence also reminded the court that Opuwei was granted bail on May 22, 2012, by Justice Abiru, and urged the court to allow the defendant to continue on the same bail terms.
In her ruling, Justice Abike-Fadipe ordered that Opuwei should continue on the bail earlier granted and adjourned the case to March 19, 30 and 31, as well as April 1 and 2, 2026, for continuation of trial.
