A clergyman, identified as Paul Oyewole, has been arraigned before a Chief Magistrate Court in Ondo State on charges of threatening to kill a magistrate, Mosunmola Ikujuni.
The alleged threat came after Oyewole accused the magistrate of refusing to heed his warnings.
The case against Oyewole went beyond the threat, as he is also facing charges of obtaining N3 million under false pretences and subsequently failing to repay the borrowed sum within the agreed-upon timeframe of seven days.
It was gathered that the clergyman resorted to faking his own death in an attempt to evade payment.
Oyewole was also accused of engaging in corrupt practices by offering monetary inducements, including the promise of money or a recharge card, to sway the magistrate in his favour.
The police prosecutor, Bernard Olagbayi, said the defendant committed the offences on July 21, 2023, at Oka in Ondo town, headquarters of Ondo West Local Government Area of the state.
The charge reads, “That you, Paul Oyewole, on July 21, 2023, at Oka, Ondo, in the Ondo Magisteriala District, did write a threat letter to kill her worship, Magistrate Mosunmola Ikujuni, if she refused to listen to your warning and thereby committed an offence contrary to and punishable under Section 323 of the Criminal Code Cap 37 Vol. 1 Laws of the Ondo State of Nigeria 2006.
“On the same date, time, and place in the aforementioned magisterial district, corruptly promised to give Magistrate Mosunmola Ikujuni money or a recharge card to favour you in a case with charge number MOD/21c/2023, Commissioner of Police vs. Paul Oyewole, in which you are a defendant, and thereby committed an offence contrary to and punishable under Section 98a(b) of the Criminal Code Cap 37 Vol. 1 Laws of Ondo State of Nigeria 2006.”
However, the defendant pleaded not guilty to the charges preferred against him.
The presiding magistrate, Charity Adeyanju, granted him bail in the sum of N500,000 with two sureties.
The case was subsequently adjourned to November 16, 2023, for hearing.
