Court jails undergraduate 12 months for cheating, personation in Kwara

Glory Ebomah

Justice Adenike Akinpelu of the Kwara State High Court sitting in Ilorin has convicted a 23-year-old student at the Federal University of Technology, FUT, Minna, Niger State, Mohammed Bello, for offences bordering on cheating by personation.

Bello, who claims he hails from Ilorin West Local Government Area of Kwara State, allegedly posed as a white female with the intent to defraud unsuspecting victims.

The defendant was prosecuted on two counts by the Ilorin Zonal Command of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC.

On April 22, 2022, the EFCC while acting on credible intelligence, arrested Bello alongside other suspected fraudsters at Agric Estate in the Sango area of Ilorin, Kwara State.

According to Head, Media and Publicity, EFCC, Wilson Uwujaren, the defendant did not only admit to committing the crime but pleaded guilty to the charge upon arraignment.

Following his guilty plea, counsel to the EFCC, Andrew Akoja, reviewed the facts of the case through a witness, an operative of the Commission who tendered the extra-judicial statements of the defendant, one apple iPhone Xr and fraudulent messages printed from his device.

Akoja urged the court to hold that the prosecution had established the necessary ingredients of the alleged crime against the defendant to warrant his conviction.

Justice Akinpelu, while relying on the evidence before the court said that she was convinced that the prosecution had proved its case beyond reasonable doubt and pronounced Bello guilty of the offence.

Consequently, the judge sentenced the defendant to six-month imprisonment with N150,000 (One Hundred and Fifty Thousand Naira Only) as an option of fine on count one- and six-months imprisonment with N100,000 (One Hundred Thousand Naira Only) as an option of fine on count two.

Additionally, Justice Akinpelu ordered the forfeiture of the apple iPhone Xr, which was used to perpetrate the crime and the sum of $25 (Twenty-Five United States Dollars) which the convict benefited from the unlawful activities to the Federal Government.