Nigeria Content Online

The only female
presidential candidate in last Saturday’s presidential election, Ebiti
Onoyom Ndok, was yesterday arraigned before a Magistrate Court in Abuja
for allegedly issuing dud cheques to different hotels were she lodged.

Ms Ndok, the
National Chairperson of the United National Party for Development and
the presidential candidate of the party, has been in detention in
Keffi, Nasarawa State, following a court order, and remained in
detention during the presidential polls. She was arraigned in Abuja
yesterday by the police and is standing trial under Section 322 of the
Penal Code and Section 1 (1) of the Amended Cheque Act 2004.

She faces a
three-year imprisonment if convicted of the charges. The prosecution
said she lodged in a hotel from November 30, 2010 to January 24, 2011,
for which she raised a cheque of N1, 287,500 to offset the bill, but it
was dishonoured by her banker. She was said to have equally lodged in
another hotel this year, during which she incurred another bill of
N790,619 but wrote a cheque of N595,000 for part payment. It was also
returned unpaid.

The Magistrate,
Ahmed Shuaibu, however, adjourned hearing in the matter till May 12,
2011 after the prosecutor, S.A. Bandawa, told the court that
investigation into the case is yet to be completed. The accused is
standing trial for “cheating and issuance of dud cheque contrary to
section 332 of the penal code law and section I (1) of the Amended
Cheque Act 2004.”

Police charge

A charge sheet
presented by the police read: “On the day of March 2011, one Moses Ege,
of Onyx Hotel and Apartment, Abuja, came to the C.I.D department and
reported that you, Mrs Ebiti, checked into the hotel from 30/11/2010 to
24/1/11 and incurred bill of N1,287,500 for which you issued a
post-dated cheque which, upon presentation to the bank, was returned to
the clearer dishonoured.

Similarly, on the
30/1/11, one David Simon, of Harthrow Suite, Garki, Abuja, wrote a
petition to the Deputy Commissioner of Police, C.I.D, Abuja, that
sometime in the month of January 2011, you, Mrs Ebiti, lodged in the
suite and left without paying bills; and when confronted, you issued a
cheque for N595, 000 which was returned dishonoured on presentation.
And also that the total bills incurred by you is the sum of
N790,619.52. You thereby committed the above mentioned offences”.