BY AGNES NWORIE, ABAKALIKI
A 45-year-old-father of two, Mike Oko-Ndukwe, has been sentenced to four-year-imprisonment for reportedly fleecing his ex-girlfriend to the tune of N425, 000.
The Police arraigned the convict, a commercial bus driver, at a Chief Magistrate’s Court sitting in Abakaliki, Ebonyi State, on one count of fraud.
Police prosecutor, Edet Effiong, informed the court during the hearing that the convict committed the offence sometime in 2017. He said that Oko-Ndukwe defrauded one Blessing Ekoh, said to be his estranged lover, of the sum of N425, 000.
The charge against him read that, “Mike Oko-Ndukwe sometimes in 2017 in Abakaliki did fraudulently obtain the sum of N425, 000 from one Blessing Ekoh with the pretense of selling to her a half plot of land situated at Onyikwa village in Abakaliki and thereby committed an offence punishable under Section 419 of the Criminal Code, Cap 33, Volume 1, Laws of Ebonyi State of Nigeria, 2009.”
However, Oko-Ndukwe, represented by his counsel, Emeka Iteshi, entered into a not guilty plea.
While being led in evidence by the prosecutor, the complainant said that the convict used the money that she handed over to him to buy a bus for himself.
Magistrate Linda Ogbodo frowned on Oko-Ndukwe’s alleged arrogance to his ex-girlfriend over the money. She found the bus driver guilty as charged and convicted him accordingly.
Oko-Ndukwe is to serve a four-year-jail-term with an option of N50, 000 fine and total refund of N425, 000 to Ekoh.
In an interview with The Point after the judgment, Ekoh stated that the convict jilted him and dared her after obtaining the money from her.
Ekoh said that Oko-Ndukwe is a widower and that they started dating in 2017 with a view to getting married.
“He lost his wife after having two children and we became friends in 2017. We had plans of getting married but along the line, there were disagreements in 2019.
“I had given him the sum of N425, 000 to buy a plot of land for me and, when I demanded for my money, he didn’t give me. Instead, he used it to purchase a fairly used Toyota Hiace bus for his transportation business.
“My major reason for dragging him to court was his threats and arrogance towards me.
“He dumped me for no reason and duped me of my hard-earned money. He also bragged that I could not do anything to him,” she explained.
