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| Obinna C. Onyekwelu – NATFORCE Zonal Coordinator |
The Economic and Financial
Crimes Commission, EFCC, on Tuesday May 7, 2013 arraigned four members of the
self-styled National Task Force on Illegal Importation of Goods, Small Arms,
Ammunition and Light Weapons, NATFORCE, before Justice N. Agishi of the Federal
High Court, Enugu, on a 9-count charge of conspiracy, extortion and obtaining
money under false pretense.
Obinna C. Onyekwelu, Emmanuel
Ngwu, Ogunjimi Charles and Onyia Fidelia are alleged to belong to a syndicate
which extorts money from unsuspecting Nigerians under the pretext of helping
them secure employment with the federal government. The scammers defrauded
hundreds of job seekers by deceitfully selling recruitment forms to them at
five thousand naira each with promises of offering them employment in Federal
Government establishments.
The accused persons pleaded
not guilty to the charge when it was read to them.
The prosecution counsel,
Mainforce Adaka, asked the court to fix a trial date since there was no bail
application before the court. However the defense counsel objected and
made an oral application for bail.
Justice Agishi granted bail
to each of the accused in the sum of N300, 000.00 each with two sureties in
like sum who should either be a businessman in Enugu or a civil servant on
grade level 10 and above.
The case was adjourned to
June 12, 2013 for the hearing.
The quartet is the first
batch of suspects to be arraigned by the EFCC since the anti-graft agency burst
the racket that cut across the six zones of the country. A certain Osita
Emmanuel Okereke, self-acclaimed director –general of the
National Task Force on Illegal Importation of Goods, Small Arms, Ammunition and
Light Weapons, NATFORCE, was apprehended in January, after spurning several
invitations, and grilled for his role in the mega scam.
The organization's claim to
recognition and registration by government has proven to be a hoax.
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