Nigeria’s First Nation CEO charged with fraud

A long-standing NGN2.1 billion naira (USD5.5 million) fraud case against First Nation Airways (FRN, Lagos) Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Kayode Odukoya has been postponed to February 15, 2021, according to Nigerian news reports. Odukoya was re-arraigned in a Special Offences Court in Ikeja on November 30, 2020, on seven charges of fraud brought against him by Nigeria’s corruption watchdog, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC). He pleaded not guilty on all charges, and his bail was extended. The case has been postponed several times since the EFCC on March 16, 2018, first brought charges against him in the same court, involving four counts of forgery, use of false information, perjury, and theft of NAD1.7 billion (USD4.4 million) from the former Skye Bank, now Polaris Bank. Witnesses alleged Odukoya had managed to secure loans from the bank by using forged documents. After the loans were disbursed, investigations by the bank and the EFCC found that documents relating to properties put up for collateral had been forged. The EFCC’s counsel, Nnaemeka Omewa, told the court on November 30 the prosecution would be closing its case, having already called five witnesses against the defendant. Defence counsel Edoka Onyeke said that due to the fresh charges, the defence would like to recall three prosecution witnesses for cross-examination. The court granted the request, and the matter was postponed to February 2021. First Nation Airways suspended flight operations in May 2018. Odukoya had also been Chief Executive Officer of Bellview Airlines (B3, Lagos), which went out of business in 2010.