SON Arraigns 5 Fake Officials For Forgery

The Standard Organization of Nigeria (SON) has arraigned five men before the Federal High Court in Lagos for alleged impersonation and forgery.

The men identified as Joshua James, Dagunduro Taiwo, Fatade Samuel, Peter Otegbe and Azeez Wasiu, who were on Friday arraigned before Justice Abimbola Awogboro allegedly presented themselves to members of the public as officials of SON.

The defendants were also accused of forging SON’s official receipts, SON’s MBAS IDEAL Model 4942D stamp, which they allegedly used in claiming to be officials of the agency.

They were also alleged to have evaded the payment of a service charge of N12,600, to the organization.

The prosecutor, Yusuf Lawal had told the court that the defendants committed the above offences on July 7 and August 25, 2022, at Sifax Ijora, Lagos.

Lawal claimed that the offences violated sections 516; 465; 108 and 123  of the Criminal Code Act, cap C38 laws of the Federation of Nigeria 2010.

He further informed the court that the offences contravened section 31(1) of the Standards Organisation of Nigeria, Act, 2015.

All the defendants pleaded not guilty to the charge.

Based on their pleas, the prosecutor urged the court to fix a trial date and also remand the defendants in the custody of the Nigerian Correctional Services (NCoS) pending the determination of the charge.

But the defence counsel told the court that he has filed a bail application on behalf of the third defendant, Fatade Samuel and that same had been served on the prosecutor.

The position was not opposed by the prosecutor.

Justice Awogboro, after listening to the lawyers, granted the defendant bail in the sum of N5 million with two sureties in like sum.

The judge ordered that the sureties must present evidence of three years of tax payment and that one of the sureties must be a landed property owner within the court’s jurisdiction.

The judge, while adjourning the matter till December 2 and 5, for trial, ordered that all the other four defendants be remanded in prison.