The Kwara State High Court sitting in Ilorin on Thursday convicted a lecturer of the Kwara State College of Health Technology (Health Tech) Offa, Abdullahi Opashola, and twin brothers – Taiye and Kehinde Adebayo – over offences bordering on impersonation and internet fraud.
Justice Adenike Akinpelu presided over the matter which was prosecuted by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
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They all pleaded to the charges separately filed against them by the commission.
A statement by Wilson Uwujaren, Head of Media and Publicity, EFCC, said that while Opashola was prosecuted on one count, Taiye and Kehinde were found guilty of seven counts each.
The charge against Opashola reads: “That you, Opashola Abdullahi, (alias Devin Snow), sometime in the month of August 2020 in Ilorin, within the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court, did attempt to cheat by personation, by portraying yourself as a female named Devine Snow via your email address [email protected] to one Eugene Myvett in order to induce him to send you $200 USD, a representation you knew to be false and thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 95 of the Penal Code and punishable under Section 324 of the same Law”
Count six of the charge against Taiye reads: “That you, Taiye Adebayo, sometime in January 2020, at Ilorin, within the judicial division of the Kwara State High Court, did cheat one Gary Brenton who you met on TWOO dating site of the sum of $490 (Four Hundred and Ninety Dollars) received vide gift cards when you pretended to be female and thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 320 of the penal code and punishable under Section 322 of the same Penal Code.”
For Kehinde, count seven of the charge reads: “That you, Kehinde Adebayo, sometime in January 2020 at Ilorin, within the judicial division of the Kwara State High Court, did cheat one Gary Brenton who you met on TWOO dating site of a sum of $410 (Four Hundred and Ten Dollars) received vide gift cards when you pretended to be female and thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 320 of the Penal Code and punishable under Section 322 of the same Penal Code.”
Following the ‘guilty plea’ entered by the defendants, two operatives of EFCC; Paul Kera and Emezie Dominic in evidence testified against Opashola and the twins, respectively. Documents were tendered and admitted in evidence.
Delivering judgment on the two cases on Thursday, Justice Akinpelu found Opashola guilty of the charge against him and sentenced him to four months imprisonment.
The 26-year-old lecturer was however given an option of a fine of N150,000.
For Taiye and Kehinde, Justice Akinpelu also pronounced each of them guilty of the charge and sentenced them to 42 months imprisonment each (six months on each of the seven counts) preferred against them, which is to run concurrently.
The judge also gave the twin brothers option of a fine of N50,000 on each of the count.
The judge, who ordered that the laptops and phones used by the convicts to commit the crime to be forfeited to the Federal Government, said that the sentences would serve as a deterrent to others.
