A 33-year-old cleric, Jamiu Isiaka has been sentenced to 28 years imprisonment over offences bordering on fraud and obtaining money by false pretence.
Justice Mahmud Abdulgafar of the High Court in Kwara State who announced the sentence said the offence contravened Section 1(1) (a) of the Advance Fee Fraud and other Fraud Related Offences Act, 2006.
Delivering his judgement in a case that has been on for over two years, Justice Abdulgafar held that the prosecution had tendered enough evidence to convince the court that the self-acclaimed cleric was guilty of the allegations brought against him by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
The prison time is to be observed at Mandala Correctional Centre, Ilorin.
EFCC Zonal Office in Ilorin had on June 14, 2019, arraigned the defendant on four counts, all of which he pleaded not guilty to.
Jamiu was said to have presented himself as the Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina and a former Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Maikanti Baru, to defraud a South Korean National, Keun Sig Kim to the tune of N30million.
While parading as a senior government official, Jamiu deceived the foreign national to collect various sums of money under the pretext of securing for him an NNPC approval/ marketing form and license certificate to buy crude oil in Nigeria.
In the course of interrogation, he claimed to have used the money to conduct sacrifice for the petitioner.
According to him, part of the money was used to buy items such as a vulture, elephant skin, elephant intestine, the skull of a lion and the liver of a gorilla which were all used as ingredients in the sacrifice.
During the trial, EFCC counsel, O. B Akinsola called two witnesses including Detective Dare Folarin who narrated how the defendant was arrested and how several fraudulent funds were traced to his bank accounts.
The prosecution tendered evidence on how Jamiu obtained the sum of $88,521.41 from his victim under the guise of helping him to procure an approval form from the NNPC.
EFCC also gave an account of how the defendant impersonated some senior government officials including Baru, Adeshina, INEC National Commissioner, Aminat Zakari, among others.
The defendant did not controvert the charge or the evidence tendered by the EFCC.
In his judgement, Justice Abdulgafar found Jamiu guilty of the four counts brought against him and sentenced him to seven years imprisonment on each count, which is to run concurrently.
In addition, the judge ordered the forfeiture of some properties recovered from the convict, which are proceeds of his unlawful activities. They are a four bed-room bungalow measuring 1813.132 located at Oke-Foma in Ilorin West Local Government Area of Kwara State, a Toyota Corolla Car, One Plasma Television, Home Theatre, Freezer, Generator, Washing Machine and LG Air Conditioner to the Federal Government.
The court also ordered restitution to the victim of the crime.
