OPERATIVES of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, Ilorin Zonal Office on Tuesday arrested Azeez Yakubu Afolayan for impersonating the Comptroller General, Nigeria Customs Service, NCS, Col. Hameed Ali (retired) and using his name to scam job seekers.
Afolayan was arrested by EFCC operatives following complaints from Hasaan Garba Muhammed, a staff of the Customs Service, who petitioned the EFCC, accusing Afoloyan of defrauding unsuspecting Nigerians seeking employment into the Customs service.
Recounting his scamming escapades, Azeez explained how he defrauded his victims.
“I started duping people since 2017 up till date, I duped about five people, I collected different amount of money from my victims and all of them used to transfer money to my bank accounts.
“I used to tell them that I will help them to secure employment with the Nigerian Customs Services, but I was just scamming,” he said.
Some of the items recovered from him include Nigerian Customs Service Application Forms, Customs employment letters, passports of some job seekers among others.
In a related development, Justice Sherifat Solebo of the Special Offences Court, sitting in Ikeja, Lagos on Tuesday, convicted and sentenced Abati Ayodeji Olalekan, to six months in prison for engaging in internet fraud.
The Lagos zonal office of the EFCC had arraigned the convict on a five-count charge bordering on possession of documents containing false pretence, an offence which is contrary to Section 318 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State.
Olalekan was arrested following intelligence report received by the Commission in October 2018 on the activities of some persons alleged to be involved in internet fraud, obtaining money by false pretence, bank fraud and credit card theft.
Items recovered from him which included one iPhone X, one iPhone 6, one HP Pavilion desktop, and one keyboard, which were tendered in evidence by the prosecution and admitted by the court.
One of the counts reads, “that you, Abati Ayodeji Olalekan, on or about the 17th October 2018 in Lagos, within the jurisdiction of this honourable court, had in your possession, documents titled “About Me 2-1-1,” wherein you represented yourself as Carissa, a representation you knew to be false pretence.”
Emeka Akaogu, the prosecution counsel told the court that the defendant had entered a plea bargain with the Commission, having been confronted with evidence against him.
After a review of the available evidence before the court, Justice Solebo convicted Olalekan and sentenced him to six months in prison.
Amos Abba is a journalist with the International Center for Investigative Reporting, ICIR, who believes that courageous investigative reporting is the key to social justice and accountability in the society.