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The Special Offences Court sitting in Ikeja, Lagos State, has sentenced two men, Ugwu Chijioke and Ibrahim Adekunle, for impersonating operatives of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission( EFCC) and executing a fake court order.
The court slammed the two convicts with a 46-year combined jail term, according to a statement by the EFCC on its Facebook handle on Sunday.
The anti-graft agency said the convicts were arrested following a credible intelligence in May 2021 at New Horizon Estate, Lekki, Lagos, that they were carrying out an illegal operation.
The EFCC said that at the time of their arrest, exhibits such as fake EFCC identity cards, jackets, and a court order allegedly from Mushin Magistrates' Court, Lagos, were recovered from them.
Following their arrest, they were arraigned before Justice O.O. Abike-Fadipe on October 12, 2021 by the Lagos Command of the EFCC on an amended five counts of impersonation, attempted property fraud, possession of false documents, and unlawful wearing of the EFCC uniforms.
The statement read in part: “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 Magistrates' 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 pretence 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.
“That you, Ugwu Pascal Chijioke and Ibrahim Sadiq Adekunle, on or about May 12, 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.”
The suspects pleaded guilty to the offences when the charges were read to them.
Magistrate Abike-Fadipe found them guilty as charged on counts one, two, three, four and five.
The defendants, however, pleaded with the judge for mercy.
In her judgment, Abike-Fadipe convicted Chijioke and Adekunle to seven years each on counts one to three, one year on count four and eight months on count five.
The sentences are to run concurrently.
