The legal battle involving activist Segun Oluwasanmi took a new turn on Wednesday when representatives for Alpha-Beta Consulting Limited requested that his case be moved from a Lagos Magistrate Court to the Federal High Court.
The magistrate court postponed the proceedings until June 30 due to disputes regarding jurisdiction.
An insider who attended the hearing noted that the court refused an immediate transfer, stating that such an application must originate from the prosecuting counsel. The process stalled because the primary prosecutor was absent, and the substitute lawyer did not possess the necessary documentation.
Critics and family members of the defendant suggest that Alpha-Beta is pushing for the Federal High Court transfer to impose more severe bail conditions on Oluwasanmi.
Context of the Dispute
Oluwasanmi faces prosecution following his decision to file petitions against Alpha-Beta, a firm linked to President Bola Tinubu, with agencies including the EFCC and the ICPC.
He alleges that the company engaged in extensive tax evasion, procurement fraud, and salary manipulation. Oluwasanmi further claims he faced intimidation after uncovering irregularities, such as inflated contract costs and the forgery of his signature by a senior official.
The Committee for the Defence of Human Rights (CDHR) has criticized the arrest, framing it as an act of hostility toward whistleblowers. Oluwasanmi was initially arraigned in January at the Ogba Magistrate Court after being apprehended by State Intelligence Department officers.
