Two State High Courts sitting in Ilorin, the Kwara state capital, have sentenced five people to various jail terms for committing Internet fraud offences in the state.
The State High Court’s Justices Adenike Akinpelu and Mahmoud Abdulgafar convicted and sentenced the five people to varied prison terms after the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) proved they committed the offence.
The convicts are Oyedepo Olamilekan Benjamin from Irepodun Local Government Area of Kwara State, Suleiman Saheed Olayinka from Ilorin South Local Government Area of Kwara State, Fakeye Tolulope Emmanuel from Ila Local Government in Osun State, Great Ukueni from Jesse Local Government Area of Delta State, and Adeshina Joseph Oluwaseun from Ogbomosho North Local Government Area of Oyo State.
According to the EFCC, the defendants were prosecuted on separate counts before the justices pleaded guilty to their respective charges.
Following the guilty pleas, the prosecuting attorneys, Andrew Akoja, Mustapha Kaigama, and Isabel Adeniran, described the events that led to the defendants’ detention.
They encouraged the court to evaluate the defendants’ pleas, extra judicial utterances, and other exhibits presented in order to convict the defendants as charged.
Justice Akinpelu, in her ruling, sentenced Oyedepo to six months imprisonment with an option of a fine of N150,000 and ordered the forfeiture of one Apple iPhone X and an HP laptop, and the sum of $457 benefited from the unlawful activities of the federal government.
The judge also condemned Suleiman to six months in prison with a N100,000 fine and ordered that the Federal Government confiscate one Samsung A03 phone recovered from the convict.
