By Dayo Farore
So much tales from the heavy downpour of rain which rocked the city of Lagos on Sunday, July 10, 2011; the almost sinking Silverbird Galleria, the literally floating Victoria Island including the failed bail application hearing of fraud allegations levelled against Nollywood producer, Ifeanyi Onyeabor. A continuous downpour which began in the early hours of July 10 and throughout the day, leaving a great part of the state flooded.
Onyeabor was remanded in the Kirikiri Maximum Prisons by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), when found guilty on a seven-count charge of stealing and fraudulent conversion on Tuesday, June 28, 2011 by an Ikeja High Court presided over by Justice Habeeb Abiru. However, the bail application court hearing was scheduled for Monday, July 11, 2011.
Curious about the outcome, Nigerian Entertainment Today (NET) paid the EFCC Lagos office on 15A Awolowo Road in Ikoyi a visit on Tuesday, July 12, 2011 for enquiries. Speaking with our reporter, the head of Media relations of the fraud department, Mr. Ayo Oluwole commented, ‘Nothing came through here about the case today. I am not aware of yesterday’s hearing. Everything in this department is confidential, but I am not sure the hearing held yesterday due to the heavy Sunday rainfall. Yesterday was declared as a public holiday, because of the flood’.
The Igo Motion Pictures International boss allegedly defrauded Steve-James Nigeria Limited of N8.9 Million, made available to him for the production of two movies; ‘Tribes’ and ‘Young Amazon’. Onyeabor according to the complainant and EFCC prosecutor, Anselem Ozioko didn’t just collect up to the sum of N6 Million and convert to personal use, but also fraudulently converted some of the company’s properties to funds amounting up to N1.86 Million. He was said to have contravened Section 390[9] of the Criminal Code, Laws of the state and therefore remanded in prison.
Ifeanyi Onyeabor is perhaps best known for the following movies; ‘Baby Guard’ 1 & 2 starring the late Ashley Nwosu in 2005, ‘Love Nwatiti’ starring the popular duo Aki & Pawpaw in 2003 and ‘Silent Book’ 1 & 2 starring Omotola Jalade Ekehinde, Alex Usifo and Emeka Enyiocha in 2003.
