After all back and forth and attempts to rubbish a trending report which claimed that the Chairman of Human and Environmental Development Agenda, HEDA, Olanrewaju Suraju was indicted in an alleged cyberbullying, the matter as it is might have finally shifted to the court.
Against several refutal from HEDA’s management and promoters, the Ministry of Justice has according to a report sighted by CASEFILE has finally filed a charge against Olanrewaju Suraju.
Baring any last minutes change of mind and position, Mr. Olarenwaju Suraju will have to appear in court to answer for criminal charges of cyberstalking against the former Attorney General of the Federation, Mr. Mohammed Adoke.
Earlier CASEFILE reported that a Police report indicted Suraju, a report which he denied, later it was also reported that, the case file was sent to the Ministry of Justice for a legal advice, HEDA in a press confrence held at Sheraton Hotel in Lagos also denied this.
But now the battle from a report sighted on Saturday has finally shifted to court where Suraju is expected to defend himself.
This is in line with a suit filed by the federal government at the weekend and marked: FHC/ABJ/CS/370/2021, at the Federal High Court, Abuja.
No date has yet been fixed for the hearing and Suraju has not also reacted to this latest development.
This is coming several months after Suraju was arrested and investigated by the police following a petition by the former AGF.
The anti-corruption boss is being accused by the office of the Attorney General of the Federation on a-four-count charge, of circulating in his social media handles, emails and audio interview information which he “knew to be false after same was rejected in evidence in a criminal court in Italy”.
The lead prosecution counsel, Mr. A.O. Shaibu, stated that the HEDA boss had committed the alleged act which violates Section 24 of the Cybercrimes Act, 2015, with the aim “to insult and dent the image of Mohammed Adoke.”
The police had on April 15, 2021, interrogated Suraju over a forgery petition by Adoke, demanding a probe of an email evidence presented against him by prosecutors in Malabu trial in Milan, Italy.
Adoke in the petition had claimed that Suraju circulated a fake tape said to be of an interview he (Adoke) had with an Italian journalist admitting that the Malabu transaction was a scam.
Information reaching CASEFILE disclosed that after due consideration of the facts in the affidavit of completion of investigation in support of the charge dated October 8, 2021, a Litigation Clerk in the office of the Director of Public Department of the Federation, Federal Ministry of Justice, Mr. Noma Wondo, the federal government said it has concluded investigation of the matter and that a prima facie case has been established against Suraju.
In count one Suraju was accused of intentionally circulating an audio telephone interview between Ms. CarlaMaria Rumur, a reporter with RIAReporter in Italy and Mohammed Adoke via his twitter handle @HEDAagenda which he knew to be false for the purpose of causing insult to Adoke and thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 24 of the Cybercrimes (Prohibition, Prevention etc) Act 2015 and punishable under the same section of the Act.
In count two, Suraju was accused of committing the same alleged offence in count one through the twitter handle @HEDAResourcecentre. The federal government in count three however accused Suraju of “intentionally circulating an email dated June 21, 2011, alleged to have been sent with the email address [email protected] owned by A Group Properties and received by a certain Osoluke Bayo O. with the email address bayo.o.osoluke@ipmorgan, which you knew to be false via your twitter handle @HEDAagenda for the purpose of causing insult to Adoke and hereby committed an offence contrary to Section 24 of the Cybercrimes (Prohibition, Prevention etc) Act 2015 and punishable under the same section of the Act”.
In count four, the defendant was equally accused of committing same offence in count three via the facebook handle @HEDAResourcecentre.
