The Magistrate Court Judge
presiding on the matter between reggae star, Victor Essiet of The Mandators
fame and a Nigerian business man Maurice Etim, has issued a bench warrant on
the defendant, following his failure to appear in court for the last two
hearings for the lingering $86, 376 (Eighty Six Thousand Three Hundred and
Seventy Six Dollars) fraud case leveled against him.
The bench warrant was issued on
Monday 24th October at the Ikeja Magistrate Court before all parties involved
in the case, after the Police prosecutor vehemently objected the plea of the
counsel to the defendant, over his client's absence in court, due to
reoccurring medical challenges and failure to back same up with a medical
report.
The 50- year-old musician was
expected to appear in court following his failure to honour the binding of an
undertaking he signed, to pay back the sum of money he falsely obtained from a
business man on a transaction that went bad since 2009. With his absence in
court today, Victor seems to be complicating issues for himself, and that
might make him end up in custody.
Rewind to 2011, the first
attempt to arrest him during the gubernatorial election campaign of ACN failed
because of the timely intervention of Senator Udoedeghe. It could also be
recalled that sometime in 2015, it was reported that the singer was kidnapped
in Akwa Ibom State during the funeral of his brother at his Nsit Ubium
hometown, only to discover later that Victor was apprehended by the police for
fraud.
In court, the police spoke
person stated that the time in between the date of the last hearing on
27th of July 2016, and the hearing on Monday 24th October was
enough for the popular musician to recuperate. Instead of the aforementioned,
the defendant who is said to be incommunicado according to claims by his
counsel has been seen on different occasions in town.
The representative of the
Nigerian Police said the act by the defendant (Victor Essiet) is however
intentional, using it as a yard stick to evade appearance in court. He however
requested that a bench Warrant be issued, to ensure that the defendant is made
to appear in court at all cost to face the wrath of the law.
The case has hereby been
adjourned to 25th January, 2017 for further trial, and if he fails to
appear, which will make it the 4th time, he might be dancing to some of his
tunes behind the bars for corruption his music preaches against.
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