Lagos State High Court has sentenced a man to one year imprisonment for being in possession of a fake Instagram Profile used to defraud unsuspecting members of the public just as Nigeria President, Bola Ahmed Tinubu says, corruption has become a cancer denying the country its benefits.

These were made known in news releases made available by the Public Relations Department of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC during the week.

Details of the Press Releases read verbatim below:

Tinubu Charges Nigerians to Close Ranks, Raise Stronger Voices against Corruption

President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has called on Nigerians from all walks of life to come together and form formidable unifying forces against economic and financial crimes and other acts of corruption.

He gave the charge in Abuja on Monday, October 7, 2024 while declaring open the 6th Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC- National Judicial Institute, NJI’s Workshop for Justices and Judges.

The President pointed out that corruption had become a cancer denying the nation the full benefits of its God-given resources and for its corrosive effects to be destroyed, Nigerians must rise up combatively against it.

“No Nigerian is immune from corruption, a cancer which continues to deny the nation the full benefits of its God-given resources. Rather than look up only to the anti-corruption agencies for a solution to this malaise, I believe it is in our enlightened collective interest to close ranks and aggressively tackle this common enemy”, he said.

Tinubu, who spoke through Vice President Kashim Shettima applauded rising improvement in the prosecution of corruption matters owing to positive developments in the justice sector reforms, admitted that challenges impeding the speedy adjudication of corruption cases should be frontally tackled. Some of them, he noted, include “ frivolous applications and appeals, intimidation of judges by counsel, judgment not based on facts of cases but on technicalities”. He commended the EFCC for its courageous and focussed efforts in combating corrupt practices and pledged more support to the Commission.

“We will also continue to support the work of the EFCC to ensure that it continues to deliver its statutory mandate without let or hindrance”, he said.

Executive Chairman of the EFCC, Mr. Ola Olukoyede amplified other challenges affecting speedy trial of corruption cases.

According to him, “ the spectre of frequent adjournments of high profile corruption cases arising from frivolous applications, conflicting orders by courts of coordinate jurisdiction in corruption cases, intemperate contempt orders hauled at the Commission’s leadership, unwarranted orders of injunction restraining the Commission from investigating cases, are among a plethora of issues that bother the EFCC”.

Owing to some of these challenges, especially the incidence of suspects facing criminal investigation rushing to court to obtain orders of injunction restraining the EFCC from inviting, investigating, interrogating and arresting them, Olukoyede stated that the Commission was unable to conduct investigation in at least 10 states of the federation. In spite of all these, the EFCC’s boss stressed that the Commission has been undeterred in its works, engaging stakeholders locally and globally to tackle the monster of corruption.

As a Commission , our efforts at integrating stakeholders in the fight against corruption are continuous. Earlier this year, we held a Stakeholders Dialogue on the issue of cybercrime where we equally unveiled the Commission’s new focus on corruption prevention with the establishment of Fraud Risk Assessment and Control. FRAC. We are convinced that it is ultimately more profitable to prevent than to investigate and prosecute corruption cases”, he said.

The Workshop, themed “ Integrating Stakeholders in Curbing Economic and Financial Crimes”, drew a mammoth crowd of stakeholders, policy makers, top government officials, civil society organisations and anti-corruption bodies.

Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice K.M.O Kekere Ekun stated that, for every stakeholder in the anti-corruption corridor to be integrated there would be a need for the establishment of a coherent and unified structure for information sharing across institutions. “No single entity can have a complete view of the financial system, making it imperative that information flows seamlessly among all stakeholder”, she said.

Attorney- General and Minister of Justice, Lateef Fagbemi, SAN, in his remarks, stated that building strong legal frameworks, effective law enforcement and international cooperation were imperative to combat financial crimes and unify stakeholders. He also called for renewal of commitment to higher values to move the nation forward. “Let us renew our commitment to justice, integrity and the well-being of our nation”, he said.

Other dignitaries that graced the opening session of the Workshop include, former Secretary General of the Commonwealth, Chief Emeka Anyaoku, Senate President, President of the Court of Appeal, Justices of the Supreme Court, Court of Appeal, High Court, among others.

Lagos Court Jails Man One Year for Possession of Fraudulent Documents

Justice O.O. Abike-Fadipe of the Special Offences Court sitting in Ikeja, Lagos, on Tuesday, October 8, 2024, convicted and sentenced one Nonso Joseph Ekeocha to one year imprisonment for possession of fraudulent documents.

Ekeocha was prosecuted by the Lagos Directorate of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, on a one-count charge bordering on possession of fraudulent documents used to perpetrate romance scam.

The count reads: “Nonso Joseph Ekeocha, on or about the 27th June, 2024 in Lagos, within the judicial division of this Honourable Court, with intent to defraud, had in your possession, ‘Instagram Profile Account’, wherein you represented yourself as Ronald Gregory, and other related documents for an online dating scam, which you knew or ought to know to be false,”

He pleaded “guilty” to the charge.

Following his guilty plea, the prosecution counsel, I G Akhanolu, prayed the court to call his witness, Ismail Saifullahi, an operative of the Commission, to give a review of the facts.

Saifullahi said the defendant was arrested alongside others who engaged in computer-related fraud in Lagos on June 29, 2024.

“Upon his arrest, he was brought to the EFCC office. Items recovered from him at the point of arrest were iPhone 12 pro max and Samsung S-10 phones, which were analysed through a forensic examination.

“The analysis revealed fraudulent documents about the defendant’s involvement in an online dating scam, where he represented himself as a male American bearing Ronald Gregory.

“He informed the Commission that he usually carried out the fraudulent activities by sending love messages randomly online to members of the public and that those who showed interest in having a relationship were asked for financial assistance.”

Akhanolu further applied to tender, in evidence, the defendant’s extrajudicial statement as well as the bundle of fraudulent documents printed out from his mobile phones.

Justice Fadipe admitted them as exhibits and convicted him as charged.

When he was given the opportunity to address the court, Nonso pleaded with the court to “temper justice with mercy”, promising never to engage in internet fraud again.

Consequently, Justice Fadipe sentenced him to one-year imprisonment, with an option of N500,000.00 and 50 hours community service.

The judge also ordered that both the Iphone 12 pro max and Samsung S-10 recovered from him be forfeited to the Federal Government of Nigeria.