A magistrate court in Offa, Kwara State, has convicted the sitting Transition Implementation Committee (TIC) Chairman, Hon. Jare Olatundun, for failing to obey court’s ruling on the payment of the council’s N5m inherited debt.
The court however withheld his sentence till next week to see if he will show remorse following the plea by his counsel.
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Magistrate Abdullazeez Gambari, who presided over the matter, subsequently ordered the TIC chairman to offset the debt owed a contractor, Engineer Agboworin Orimadegun, within seven days.
The magistrate said Olatundun may face the wrath of the law if he fails to do the needful over the debt before the next adjourned date.
Earlier, Olatundun’s counsel, Bashir Ijaya, had pleaded with the court to be merciful, promising that his client will show remorse.
On his part, Orimadegun’s counsel, Sharafadeen Ibrahim, informed the court that his client is not after the council boss’s conviction but the payment of the money.
The court however adjourned the suit until Monday for judgement.
Olatundun had earlier been arraigned last month over the matter.
According to the charges, he inherited the debt but allegedly disobeyed court judgement which ordered that the council tractor be confiscated over the matter.
The development made Agboworin approach the court with an application that Olatundun must be prosecuted for allegedly frustrating order of the court.
But Ijaya, who represented the TIC chairman, urged the court to dismiss the application.
He argued that the council is a government parastatal and that Olatundun cannot be solely prosecuted.
