The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on Tuesday arraigned a businessman, Wilson Opuwei, alongside his company, Dateline Energy Services Ltd., before Justice Olubunmi Abike-Fadipe of the Special Offences Court sitting in Ikeja, Lagos, over an alleged $550,000 fraud involving petroleum product allocations, with the defendants facing a four-count charge bordering on obtaining by false pretences and stealing, arising from claims that Opuwei fraudulently obtained funds from Prince Donatus Okonkwo under the guise of securing 5,000 metric tonnes of Dual Purpose Kerosene (DPK) from the Petroleum Products Marketing Company (PPMC), as counts one and two alleged that the sums of $500,000 and $50,000 were obtained in April 2011 through an intermediary “under the false pretence” of securing the allocation, which the prosecution said the defendant knew to be false, while Opuwei pleaded not guilty to all charges when they were read in court, with the prosecution, led by Nwandu Ukoha holding brief for Fadeke Giwa, explaining that although the case was first instituted in 2011 and the prosecution closed its case in 2015, the defence failed to open its case, necessitating a fresh trial following the transfer of the matter between judges due to their elevation to the Court of Appeal and what was described as deliberate delays, as defence counsel urged the court to allow the defendant to continue on the bail granted in May 2012, a request Justice Abike-Fadipe granted while adjourning the matter to March 19, 30 and 31, and April 1 and 2, 2026, for trial.
