Election petitions stall D’banj’s court case, hearing fixed for September

The second hearing in the on-going case between Dbanj and Henry Ojogho, scheduled to hold on Thursday, May 7, 2015 did not hold afterall. The suit has been adjourned to September 28, 2015 because the presiding judge, Justice (Mrs.) Adedayo Oyebanji is presently in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State where she heads a 3-man Tribunal Committee to oversee the election petitions arising from the last general elections in the state.

When the court held its first sitting on Monday, March 30, 2015 at the Multi-door Courthouse, Obalende, Lagos, D’banj was represented by his lawyer, Dele Adeshina, who was in turn, represented by a junior lawyer from his chambers.

The claimant, Henry Ojogho, was also represented by his lawyer, Benedict Onyeabo as both teams filed their papers to kick off proceedings in the suit.

The case emanated from the debt allegations against the Nigerian music star and DB Records boss, Dbanj. It first came up in November 2014 when Henry Ojogho, Vice Chairman of Broron Group and MindHub Technologies, alleged that D’banj owes him and has refused to pay a large sum running into millions of Naira.

The debt, according to Henry, came to be through a loan of over N60m obtained through D’banj’s company, DKM Media Limited back in January 2013 but which the ‘Oliver Twist’ singer is yet to pay back despite signing an undertaking to do so. He claimed further that the entertainer issued two cheques – one on December 20, 2013 and another on January 20, 2014, both of which had to be returned after presentation, because the pop star’s accounts were not funded enough.

A firm of attorneys, D.U.ODIGIE & CO, acting on behalf of Henry Ojogho, had, in a letter addressed to D’Banj, wrote:

‘Following the default by D KINGS MEDIA LIMITED to pay the debt to our client, and pursuant to the aforementioned personal Guarantee/Memorandum of Undertaking, you issued two post-dated cheques; one for the sum of $240,000 (Two hundred and forty thousand United States Dollars only) dated 20/12/2013, and the other for the sum of N15,000,000 (Fifteen million naira only) dated 20/1/2014.

Both cheques were returned unpaid on presentation by our client. ‘We are further informed that although, you thereafter paid the sum of N8,600,000 (Eight million, six hundred thousand naira only) out of the N15,000,000 (Fifteen million naira only) (in) cheque, leaving a balance sum of N6,400.000 (Six million, four hundred thousand naira Only), you have failed, neglected or refused to redeem the entire or any part of the $240,000 (Two Hundred and forty thousand United States Dollars) cheque.’

Further investigations by NET revealed that Henry Ojogho is not the only wealthy man claiming D’banj owes him in recent times.

With the latest development, fans are eagerly looking up to the next date when D’banj, who just rounded off a playing tour of America, is expected to keep a date with the court.

Although the issuance of the dud cheques on its own is viewed as a crime under Nigeria’s financial regulations, Henry Ojogho and his team are more bent on recovering the loan in possession of ‎D’Banj better known as the Kokomaster.