Justice Muhammed Sani of the Federal High Court in Ilorin has convicted and sentenced five internet fraudsters to different terms of imprisonment .
The convicts are Jacob Emmanuel, Usman Teminu, Akerele Olugbenga, Abdulrazaq Ikoojo Ahmed and Idemudia Ohyakilome Christian .
They were jailed on Monday after pleading guilty to separate count charges, bordering on cybercrime and possession of fraudulent funds.
Count two of the charge against Emmanuel reads: “That you Jacob Emmanuel sometime in February, 2022 at Lokoja within the jurisdiction of the Federal High Court fraudulently impersonated one Percy Sliver with intention to obtain N450,000.00 (Four Hundred and Fifty Thousand Naira) which you did obtain from Ward Hill and thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 22 (2) (b) (ii) of the Cybercrime (Prohibition Prevention) Act, 2015 and punishable under Section 22 (2) (b) (iv) of the same Act”
Count two of the charge against Teminu reads: “That you, USMAN TENIMU sometime in June, 2022 at Ilorin, within the judicial division of the Federal High Court, was found to have retained the control of the gross sum of N1,655,000 (One Million, Six Hundred and Fifty Five Thousand Naira) in your First Bank Plc account number 3123320044, being sum paid to you which you knew to be proceeds of criminal conduct and thereby committed an offence contrary to and punishable under Section 17 (a) and (b) of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (Establishment) Act 2004”
When the charge was read to them individually, they all pleaded guilty to the offence.
Following their guilty pleas , the prosecuting EFCC lawyer, Mr Andrew Akoja, urged the court to convict the defendants as charged.
In his judgment, Justice Sani convicted and sentenced Emmanuel to three years imprisonment on counts one and two with an option of fine of N200,000 on each count. The judge further directed that the phones used by Emmanuel to commit the crime should be forfeited to the Federal Government.
Teminu bagged three years imprisonment on each of the three counts for which he was prosecuted. He was, however, given an option of fine of N200,000 on count one. Count two carried an option of fine of N1.65million while count three was with a fine of N304,000. The judge also directed that the iPhone 13 pro max and iPhone 6 that Teminu used for the commission of the crime should be forfeited to the Federal Government.
Justice Sani also sent Olugbenga to a jail term of three years each on the four counts for which he was prosecuted. He got an option of fine of N200,000 on count one, N223,500 on count two, N504,650 on count three while count four had an option of fine of N225,200. The judge further directed that his two phones which were used to commit the crime be forfeited to the Federal Government.
In a similar vein, Justice Sani convicted and sentenced Ahmed to three years imprisonment, on the three counts for which he was prosecuted. He was, however, given an option of fine of N100,000 on count one, N2.41million on count two and N1.01million on three. The court ordered that his iPhone 13, iPhone x and MacBook laptop be forfeited to the Federal Government.
Christian bagged three years imprisonment each on counts one and two, with an option of fine of N100,000 on count one and N79,000 on count two.
All the convicts became inmates owing to their arrest by operatives of the Ilorin Zonal Command of the EFCC, for internet-related fraud and possession of fraudulent funds. They were later prosecuted and convicted accordingly.
