An Ondo- based cleric Pastor Paul Oyewole has been arraigned before a Chief Magistrate’s Court in Ondo town for faking his own death to avoid paying N3m he borrowed from a member of his church.
Oyewole was said to have falsely published and posted his obituary on a social media platform after he sent a fake bank alert to his creditor, Boyede Emmanuel.
Oyewole was arraigned for fraudulently obtaining the money under the pretence to pay back the money within seven days.
He was further alleged to have falsely published and posted his obituary on WhatsApp after he had sent a fake alert to an account, knowing fully that he did not have such an amount in his bank account.
Oyewole was alleged to have threatened the complainant on phone with the intent to intimidate him and conducted himself in a manner likely to cause a breach of the peace, by stripping himself naked in front of the complainant’s house.
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He reportedly committed the offence between November 2021 and May 2022
Oyewole, however, pleaded not guilty to the charges preferred against him.
Police Prosecutor, Sergeant Akao Moremi, said he would call four witnesses to testify in the case.
The defendant’s lawyer Mrs Queen Arokoyo applied for bail on liberal terms.
Presiding Magistrate, Mrs Mosunmola Ikujuni, granted the defendant bail to the sum of N1m with two credible sureties each in like sum.
She adjourned the case to February 13 for hearing.