Ex-LUTH credit account officer jailed 15 years

An Igbosere High Court in Lagos on Wednesday sentenced a former account officer of the Staff Cooperative Thrift and Credit Society of the Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH), College of Medicine, Idi-Araba, Lagos, Olaniyi Zaccheus, to 15 years imprisonment for N4 million fraud.

Justice Ipaye, who delivered the judgment, discharged and acquitted Zaccheus’s co-defendant, Seyi Agbekuyide, of the charges brought against him.

The judge found Zaccheus, who made an online appearance from the Nigerian Correctional Facility, Kirikiri, guilty on counts two, three, four, six, and seven bordering on stealing, out of a 13-count charge.

The court sentenced him to three years imprisonment on each of the counts.

The sentences are to run concurrently from the day he was taken into custody meaning Zaccheus will spend a maximum of only three years in prison.

Zaccheus, alongside Agbekuyide, a former treasurer of the Credit Society who later became its Vice President, were arraigned on May 6, 2015, by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Lagos Zonal Office.

They were tried on a 13-count amended charge bordering on conspiracy to steal, stealing, and conspiracy to commit felony and forgery.

To prove its case, the prosecution called four witnesses, and tendered several oral and documentary evidence.

In the course of the trial, Zaccheus jumped bail, and was later arrested and remanded in prison pending the conclusion of his trial.

As the prosecution closed its case on November 22, 2016, the defendants filed a “no-case” submission, which was afterwards dismissed by the court for lacking in merit, and they were ordered to enter their defence.