Court Sentences RCCG Pastor To Jail Over Issuance Of Dud Cheque

Lagos State Special Offences Court, Ikeja has sentenced Ayodeji Oluokun, an Assistant Pastor of the Redeem Christian Church of God (RCCG), City of David Parish, Victoria Island, to two years imprisonment for issuance of $1.6 million dud cheque.

Pastor Oluokun was charged alongside his company, Peak Petroleum Industry Nigeria Ltd, on an amended six-count charge on the issuance of dud cheques, stealing and obtaining money under false pretences.

According to the judge, the prosecutor failed to establish the charge of stealing and obtaining money under false pretences, and the judge thereafter sentenced Oluokun to two years imprisonment or pay a fine of two million naira and his company also to pay a fine of two million naira. The judge also ordered the convict to make a restitution of $1.6 million to the nominal complainant within 18 months.

Earlier before sentencing Pastor Olulokun, the EFCC counsel, Mr Samuel Daji, urged the court to convict the defendants as charged, arguing that the convict and the nominal complainant had not been on talking terms, thereby making the terms of restitution difficult to meet.

He also prayed the court to order the defendant to forfeit his property in order to pay up the debt.

In a counter-reaction, defence counsel, Mr Edoka Onyeke, prayed to court to grant the convict a non-custodial sentence, adding that he was a pastor and could use his pastoral work as service to humanity, through community service.