October 03, (THEWILL) – A Kwara State High Court sitting in Ilorin has sentenced one Jamiu Isiaka to 28 years at the Mandala Correctional Centre, Ilorin, for impersonating presidential spokesman, Femi Adesina, to deraud a South Korean national..
The Ilorin Zonal Command of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) had on June 14, 2019 arraigned the defendant on four counts, to which he pleaded not guilty.
Jamiu had allegedly 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 N30 million.
Jamiu, parading himself as a senior government official, collected various sums of money under the pretext of securing the NNPC approval and marketing form and license certificate to buy crude oil in Nigeria.
During interrogations, Alfa Jamiu claimed he used the money to conduct sacrifices for the petitioner. According to him, part of the money was used to buy a vulture, elephant skin and intestine, a lion’s skull and a gorilla’s liver; ingredients in the sacrifice.
During the trial, counsel to the EFCC, O. B Akinsola, called two witnesses, including Detective Dare Folarin, who narrated how the defendant was arrested and how several fraud-related funds were traced to his bank accounts.
The prosecution tendered evidence of 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. The EFCC also gave account of how the defendant impersonated some senior government officials, including the then Group Managing Director of the NNPC, Dr. Maikanti Baru; the National Commissioner of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, Mrs. Aminat Zakari; and the Senior Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Mr. Femi Adesina.
Delivering judgement on Thursday, Justice Mahmud Abdulgafar held that the prosecution tendered enough evidence to convince the court that the defendant is guilty.
The court found Mr Isiaka guilty of the charges and sentenced him to seven years in prison, on each count, to run concurrently.
In addition, the judge ordered the forfeiture of properties recovered from the convict, proceeds of his unlawful activities, to the federal government. They are a four-bedroom bungalow located at Oke-Foma, Kwara state, a Toyota Corolla, one plasma television, a home theatre, freezer, generator, washing machine and an LG air conditioner.
The court also ordered restitution to the victim of the crime.
