A High Court in Akure, the capital of the Ondo state, has sentenced Prof. Adekunle Oloyede, a former vice chancellor of Elizade University, to five years in prison for fraud.
Oloyede was charged with defrauding Mike Ade Investment limited for Duro Global Property by obtaining $720,000 for the construction of a 500-bed facility at the university and $250,000, $150,000, and $620,000 at various times under the pretense of using the funds for the building of a hostel for the institution.
It was established in court that many payments totaling millions of dollars in foreign currency were made into an account connected to Oloyede for the importation of panel for the construction of the dorm. Even though the materials had been delivered from Australia to Ilara-Mokin in Ondo State, the former vice chancellor was unable to complete the projects, which resulted in his detention and subsequent prosecution by the local government.
However, he entered a plea of not guilty and claimed that the court lacked the authority to hear the accusations against him.
After finding the professor guilty on all six counts of using false pretenses, theft, and fraud in violation of the state’s anti-graft legislation, Justice Aderemi Adegoroye, the presiding judge, sentenced him to prison.