Etim Ekpimah
The Kwara State High Court sitting in Ilorin and presided over by Justice Sikiru Oyinloye has imposed one-year imprisonment on one of the players of Ibrafix Football Club, Ilorin, Baraye Bamidele Saoban, for offences bordering on love scam.
Baraye, 25, who hails from Ilorin, was jailed alongside one Adaraloye Ezekiel, a native of Osi, Ekiti Local Government Area of Kwara State, for a similar offence.
The duo was prosecuted on separate charges by the Ilorin Zonal Command of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC.
Head, Media and Publicity, EFCC, Wilson Uwujaren, said the defendants pleaded guilty when the charges were read to them.
Following their pleas, counsel to the EFCC, Rashidat Alao led witnesses in evidence to review the facts of the cases.
The witnesses narrated how actionable intelligence led to the arrest of Baraye and Adaraloye, telling the court that the duo specialized in “Yahoo-Yahoo business”.
Items recovered from the defendants at the point of arrest including iPhones, incriminating messages printed from their devices and manager’s cheque raised as restitution were tendered and admitted by the court.
Alao urged the court to convict the defendants since there was no contrary evidence to disprove the prosecution’s claim against them.
Justice Oyinloye in his judgment on Wednesday, September 22, 2021, said the court was convinced that the prosecution had proved its case beyond a reasonable doubt based on the plea of guilt entered by the defendants and the uncontroverted evidence tendered against them.
The judge sentenced Baraye to a term of one-year imprisonment with an option of a fine of N150,000 (One Hundred and Fifty Thousand Naira). He also ordered the convicted footballer to forfeit the iPhone recovered from him at the point of arrest as well as the draft of N26,000 (Twenty-Six Thousand Naira) which he raised as restitution to his victims to the Federal Government.
In a similar vein, Adaraloye bagged a jail term of six months with the option of a fine of N250,000 (Two Hundred and Fifty Thousand Naira). The judge also ordered that the manager’s cheque of N600,000 (Six Hundred Thousand Naira) which he raised as restitution to his victims as well as the iPhone used in perpetrating the crime be forfeited to the Federal Government.