The State High Courts sitting in Sokoto and Kaduna have convicted and sentenced five persons to a total of 15 years imprisonment for crimes bordering on impersonation, false pretence and other cyber crimes in separate suits filed by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission.
While making the judgment of Justice Muhammad Sifawa of the Sokoto State High Court known via its verified Twitter handle @officialEFCC, on Thursday, the EFCC stated that Joseph Moses, Raji Tijjani and Albert Bulus, were convicted and sentenced to 12 years imprisonment after pleading guilty to the charges.
The anti-graft agency noted that the convicts bagged the jail term after pleading guilty to one-count separate charges bordering on impersonation and obtaining under false pretence.
The EFCC said the prosecution counsel, S H Shehu, prayed the court to convict and sentence them accordingly and that Justice Sifawa convicted and sentenced the three defendants to four years imprisonment each.
“The convicts’ journey to the correctional centre began when they were arrested by operatives of the Sokoto Command of the EFCC, for impersonating foreigners and defrauding their victims. They were subsequently prosecuted and convicted,” the statement partly read.
Similarly, the agency further revealed in a different statement that its Kaduna Zonal Command secured the conviction of Favour Arasomwan and Oyebamiji Stephen before Justice Darius Khobo of the State High Court sitting in Kaduna on a separate one-count charge bordering on cybercrime.
According to the agency, the convicts are among the 26 suspects arrested in a sting operation at Abuja for alleged involvement in internet-related fraud schemes and the investigation revealed that they were using multiple social media applications to scam their victims of their hard-earned money.
While pleading guilty after their charges were separately read to them, the agency said the prosecuting counsel, M.E Eimonye and M.U Gadaka, in their separate appearance, urged the court to convict them accordingly.
“Justice Khobo convicted and sentenced them to three and two years imprisonment respectively or a fine of N150,000 each.
“While Oyebamiji is to forfeit his Apple iPhone XR, Favour is to forfeit the following items: an iPhone 11 Pro Max, one Hisense 1.5 horse power air conditioner, one Hisense 75’ Television, three LG standing fans, one four burners Maxi gas tabletop cooker, one Hisense mini fridge, one Midea deep freezer, one Hisense microwave, one television stand, one outdoor relaxation swing, two mini garden chairs, one mini table, and a set of sofa to the Federal Government of Nigeria,” the statement added.
