Who could have envisaged that Raymond Dokpesi, the popular business magnate and television executive, would not lay is back to sleep in his palatial bed last night?; what cartomancy could have foretold that he would eat his dinner in the underworld, among convicted criminals and destitute, confined from the bliss and glint of the lively world?
For Raymond Dokpesi, this chapter of his life is what he would want to quickly flip over: it is a messy one that has dissolved the reputation he had built over decades being the pioneer of independent broadcasting; his business empire extends beyond that and he, by all standards, has grabbed success at its wrist. But it seems all he had ever achieved will soon slip away from him as he loose grasp of them– a night in one of Nigeria’s most notorious prisons is enough a debacle.
The founder of DAAR Communications Plc was on Monday taken to Kuje Prison in Abuja in a ‘Black Maria’ van escorted by heavy security personnel, pending when he perfects his bail conditions.
A source from Kuje prison said Dokpesi arrived at the prison at about 4.55 pm and was immediately taken to the Prison Chief’s office, The Nation reports.
The source said: “We have received Dokpesi in Kuje prison and perfected his records before allocating him a cell.
“Upon sighting Dokpesi, most of the inmates, who were abreast of the ongoing anti-corruption trials, were anxious to see him.
“But we decided to keep him in the office of the Officer-In-Charge to avoid being hurt by some inmates. Warders succeeded in shielding him from inmates.”
The source described Dokpesi as “certainly moody”.
Dokpesi was yesterday ordered by Justice Gabriel Kolawole of the Federal High Court, Abuja to be remanded in Kuje prison and he should submit his international passport to the court pending the fulfillment of his bail conditions.
Kolawole ruled that one of the sureties must be a serving or retired civil servant of the rank of a director in either the federal or state civil service and if retired, the surety must present before the court a retirement letter showing the organisation where he or she had served.
The Judge further ruled that the second surety must be a private entrepreneur with evidence of three years tax clearance certificate and a verifiable landed property worth N200 million and must sign an undertaking of forfeiture of the property to the Federal Government, should Dokpesi jump bail.
Dokpesi alongside his company, DAAR Investment and Holdings Limited had pleaded not guilty to the six-count charge bordering on alleged procurement fraud and breach of public trust preferred against him by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC.
