A Lagos State High Court presided over by Justice Lawal Akapo has remanded one Joseph Gabriel in prison custody for impersonating the immediate past governor of Benue State.
Gabriel was arraigned by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, on a four counts charge bordering on conspiracy and forgery.
According to the Anti-Graft agency, Gabriel was nabbed in 2014 following a petition that he impersonated Gabriel Suswam, the immediate past governor of Benue State.
The EFCC stated that the accused tried to extort money from some foreigners under the pretence of giving them contracts.
The charge reads, “That you, Joseph Gabriel, Augustine Akile (at large), and Victor Kayode (at large), on or about October 29, 2014, in Lagos, within the Ikeja Judicial Division, conspired to defraud one Abdulrahman Nocari of the United Arab Emirates by falsely presenting to him that you are Gabriel Suswam, the Governor of Benue State, and falsely soliciting a false investment proposal in real estates, hospitality, tourism and oil and gas, which you falsely claim will accumulate 15 per cent interest to him.”
The accused, however, pleaded not guilty to the charge when it was read.
Justice Akapo consequently ordered that Gabriel be remanded in the Kirikiri Maximum Prison pending his bail application.
Akapo adjourned the case till November 23, 24 and 25, 2015 for trial.
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