Court Remands Ex-Ondo PDP Chairman‎, Faboyede, For Alleged N500m Fraud

The Economic and Financial Crimes on Friday arraigned a former Chairman of the Ondo State Peoples Democratic Party, Clement Faboyede, for an alleged fraud of N500m.

 Faboyede was arraigned alongside the Ondo State Coordinator of President Goodluck Jonathan Campaign Organisation in 2015, Modupe Adetokunbo, before the Federal High Court in Lagos.

The three charges pressed against them border on conspiracy and money laundering.

The EFCC claimed that ‎in the charges that Faboyede and Adetokunbo received a cash sum of N500m from one Owolanke Michael in the build-up to the 2015 general election.


Faboyede was accused of making N500m cash payment to the Ondo State Election Committee of the PDP‎ without through any financial institution.

The prosecuting counsel for the EFCC, E‎kene Iheanacho, said the defendants committed the offence on March 27, 2015, adding that they acted contrary to Section 18 of the Money Laundering (Prohibition) Act, 2011 and are liable to punishment under Section 16(2) of the same Act.

But upon their arraignment on Friday before Justice Saliu Saidu, Faboyede and Adetokunbo pleaded not guilty.

The judge, while adjourning the case till September 17, 2018, ordered that the defendants should be remanded in the prison custody.

Meanwhile, the PDP, while reacting to the arraignment in a statement by its South-West  Zonal Publicity Secretary, Ayo Fadaka, said Faboyede and Adetokunbo committed no fraud.

The party said, “It is imperative to clearly underscore the fact that the N500m upon which this case is built is the campaign fund released by the party to the Ondo State PDP through the Fidelity Bank and not in any manner a fraudulent issue.

“It was these gentlemen who signed and withdrew the money on behalf of the party and this is the reason why the EFCC is prosecuting them.

“While we are not interested in the politics surrounding this matter, we however wish to state categorically that the APC is merely abusing the privileges of power to persecute the PDP endlessly, this we consider pedestrian and cheap.

“We reiterate very firmly that these gentlemen are no criminals as they only acted on behalf of the party. It is the PDP that is on trial here and as a party, we continue to repose confidence in the ability of the judiciary to adjudicate on this matter.”‎