A Federal High Court in Abeokuta, Ogun State, presided over by Justice Mohammed Abubakar on Tuesday convicted and sentenced two internet fraudsters, Ridwan Lekan Garuba and Agbabiaka Idris Adebayo, to five months and four months in prison respectively.
The two convicts had pleaded guilty to the separate one-count charge preferred against them by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, Ibadan zonal office.
According to EFCC’s Head, Media and Publicity, Wilson Uwujaren, the charges border on fraud and impersonation.
The charge against Garuba reads: “That you Ridwan Lekan Garuba(a.k.a. Jefferson Godwin) sometime in 2020, at Abeokuta, Ogun State, within the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court, with intent to defraud, impersonated one Jefferson Godwin, a citizen of the United States of America, by which you obtained benefits and gained an advantage from one Ruth Hodges Dennis, a female citizen of the United States of America, a pretext which you knew to be false and thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 22(2)(b)(i) and punishable under Section 22(2)(b)(iv)of the Cyber Crimes (Prohibition, Prevention, etc) Act, 2015.”
The charge against Agbabiaka read: “That you, Agbabiaka Idris Adebayo ‘m’ ( a.k.a Melissa Brookrose) sometime between 2018 and 2020 at Sango Ota, Ogun State, within the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court, with intent to defraud, impersonated one Charles Stewart, a citizen of the United States of America, by which you obtained benefits and gained an advantage from one Christiana, a female citizen of the United States of America, a pretext which you know to be false and thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 22(2)(b)(i)of the Cyber Crimes (Prohibition, Prevention, etc) Act, 2015 and punishable under Section 22(2)(b)(iv) of the same Act”.
The EFCC counsel in the respective case, Shamsuddeen Bashir, urged the court to convict the duo accordingly.
Justice Abubakar consequently convicted and sentenced Garuba to five months in prison with effect from the date of his arrest, while Agbaiaka bagged four months in prison, also with effect from the date of his arrest.
