The Special Offences Court in Ikeja has sentenced two men, Ugwu Chijioke and Ibrahim Adekunle to 46 years in prison each for impersonating operatives of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and executing a fake court order.
Gatekeepers News reports that EFCC revealed this through a statement posted on the Commission’s X handle.
They were arrested in May 2021 at New Horizon Estate, Lekki, Lagos, after the commission received credible intelligence.
The duo were caught in the act of carrying out an illegal operation when they were arrested.
Items recovered from the suspects at the point of arrest included fake EFCC identity cards, jackets, and a court order allegedly from Mushin Magistrate Court.
Subsequently, they were arraigned on October 12, 2021, by the Lagos Zonal Command of the EFCC on a five-count charge involving impersonation, attempted property fraud, possession of false documents, and unlawful wear of the EFCC uniform.
The suspects were arraigned before Justice O.O. Abike-Fadipe of the Special Offences Court in Ikeja, where they pleaded guilty to the charges.
The prosecution counsel, Abdulhamid Tukur, then presented a review of the case facts, demonstrating the suspects’ guilt.
Tukur then requested the court to deliver a guilty verdict and impose the corresponding sentences.
Justice Abike-Fadipe found them guilty as charged on counts one, two, three, four, and five.
The defendants, when allowed to address the court, pleaded for mercy.
The Justice further sentenced the two defendants to seven years imprisonment each on counts one to three each, one year on count four, and eight months on count five, saying that sentences are to run concurrently.
One of the counts reads: “ That you, Ugwu Pascal Chijioke and Ibrahim Sadiq Adekunle, on or about the 12th day of May 2021 in Lagos, within the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court, by false pretence and with intent to defraud, attempted to obtain property from one Oriyomi Johnson under the pretext that the “Chief Magistrate Court, Lagos State Judiciary, Mushin, Lagos” issued an Order to the effect that the property located at New Horizon Estate, Lekki- Ikate, Lagos be seized and the said apartment sealed pending the arrival of the said Oriyomi Johnson, which representation you knew to be false and committed an offence of attempt to obtain property by false pretense contrary to Sections 8(b) of the Advanced Fee Fraud and Other Fraud Related Offences Act, 2006 and punishable under Section11(3) of the same Act.”
Another count reads, “That you, Ugwu Pascal Chijioke and Ibrahim Sadiq Adekunle, on or about the 12th day of May, 2021 in Lagos, within the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court not being a person holding any office in or authority of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, wore a jacket bearing the official mark of the Commission ,which was calculated to convey the impression that you held such authority and committed an offence of unlawfully wearing the uniform of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission contrary to Section 79(1) (b) of the Criminal Law of Lagos State, 2011.”
