Justice A. L. Ogunmoye of the Ekiti State High Court, sitting in Ado-Ekiti, Ekiti State, has convicted Mr Elijah Oladapo, a former bursar of the Federal Polytechnic, Ado-Ekiti, for fraud.

The convict was first charged by the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission, (ICPC), in 2021, alongside the institution’s former rector, Mrs Theresa Taiwo Akande, for allegedly receiving over N500,000 in kickbacks from a contractor handling construction projects at the school.

In a nine-count filed in court, the commission claimed that their conduct violated sections 8(1)(a), 19, and 20 of the Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Act, 2000.

The defendants pled not guilty when the charges were read to them, setting the tone for the lengthy trial.

During the trial, the court heard how the defendant abused his position in 2015 by requesting and accepting payments from a contractor in charge of the building and equipping of lecture theatres and offices at the institution.

The trial judge, Hon. Justice Ogunmoye, discharged and acquitted the first defendant, Mrs Akande, on charges 1–3. He did, however, find the second defendant, Mr Oladapo, guilty of the accusations levelled against him in counts 4 through 9.

As a result, he sentenced Oladapo to five years in jail for offences four through seven, with the option of a fine of N1.2 million, and two years in prison for counts eight and nine, without the option of a fine.

The criminal has since been sent to a penitentiary facility to serve his time.