Adebisi Ademola, a 38-year-old lecturer at the Kwara State College of Health Technology in Offa, was sentenced to six months in prison on Friday for his role in a romance scam.
Ademola was found guilty by Justice Sikiru Oyinloye of the Kwara state high court in Ilorin.
On September 14, 2020, he was one of 33 suspected fraudsters arrested in the state's Offa district.
The suspect was arraigned by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission's (EFCC) Ilorin Zonal office on a count charge of romance fraud, a crime punishable under Section 95 of Northern Nigeria's Penal Code.
The charge sheet read; ” That you, Adebisi Ademola ( a.k.a Dawn Ayero) sometime in September 2020, or thereabout within the jurisdiction of this honourable court, attempted to commit an offence of cheating by personation by pretending and representing yourself to be a white lady called Dawn Ayero to one Donald Oakes, who is purportedly in love with the said Oakes as it is contained in your Gmail account;
[email protected] and thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 95 of the Penal code laws of Northern Nigeria.”
Ademola, pleaded guilty to the charge when it was read to him.
Following his ‘guilty plea’, Counsel to the anti-graft agency, Andrew Akoja, invited an operative of the commission, Olumide Olasode, to the witness box to review the facts of the information case.
Olasode, narrated how intelligence report led to the arrest of the defendant on September 14,2020 at Offa area of Kwara state.
Petition from concerned citizens of Offa, statement of the defendant and all the fraudulent messages printed out of his email, were tendered and admitted in evidence by the court.
Thereafter, Akoja, urged the court to convict the defendant based on his plea, the exhibits tendered and the evidence of the sole prosecution witness (PW1).
Justice Oyinloye, in his judgement, found Ademola guilty of the charge and accordingly sentenced him.
He however, gave him M50,000 option of fine, and ordered the forfeiture of his phone used as the instrument to commit the crime to the federal government.
