AbdulGafar Ayanrinde, 25, was sentenced to three years in prison by an Osogbo Chief Magistrates’ Court for falsely portraying himself as a lawyer.
According to a statement issued on Wednesday by the spokesperson for the Osun State Command of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), Kehinde Adeleke, Ayanrinde committed the crimes between the 18th and 22nd of May 2023 and was apprehended by NSCDC operatives on the 24th.
Adeleke went on to say that Ayanrinde, who pretended to be a barrister at law and a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, misled five unsuspecting members of the public and stole a $450,000 iPhone.
At the trial, the NSCDC spokesperson said the fake lawyer, “pleaded guilty to the two counts bordering on impersonation of a legal practitioner contrary to Section 484 of the Criminal Code Law, Cap 34 Laws of Osun State of Nigeria, and obtaining money under false pretenses contrary to Section 419 of the Criminal Code Law, Cap 34 Laws of Osun State of Nigeria.”
After admitting guilt to the crime, “the defendant was pronounced guilty by Magistrate M.A. Olatunji, who sentenced him to three years imprisonment for each of the counts.”
The magistrate ordered that the lawyer’s sentence be served consecutively and that N150,000 be transferred from the convict’s account to the victim’s account as the proceeds of the crime.
