1 month ago
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Justice Abimbola Awogboro of the Federal High Court sitting in Ilorin has sentenced Yakubu Aminu to two hundred hours (about nine days) of community service without an option of fine for carrying out bureau de change activities without a valid licence.
Similarly, a Kwara State High Court presided over by Justice Hammed Gegele also sentenced the duo of Abdulahi Abdulrasaq Omotosho and Akeem Ibrahim Salaudeen for their involvement in internet fraud-related crimes.
According to a statement signed by the Head of Media and Publicity of the EFCC, Dele Oyewale, and made available to the press in Ilorin on Monday night, October 14, 2024, the Ilorin Zonal Directorate of the EFCC had arraigned the trio before the courts on separate charges on Wednesday, October 9, 2024.
The charge against Yakubu read: “That you, Yakubu Aminu, sometime in July 2024, at Chikanda Market, Yashikira District, Baruten Local Government Area, Kwara State, within the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court, did carry on other financial business, to wit: bureau de change activities without a valid licence issued by the Central Bank of Nigeria, contrary to Section 15 (5) of the Banks and Other Financial Institutions Act, 2020, and punishable under Section 57 (5) (b) of the same Act.”
The charge against Akeem read: “That you, Akeem Ibrahim Salaudeen, between 3rd December 2018 and 8th November 2024, in Ilorin, Kwara State, within the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court, did knowingly have under your control the sum of N4,069,000.00 (four million, sixty-nine thousand naira only) in your bank account number 2104916025 with the name Akeem Ibrahim Salaudeen with the United Bank for Africa Plc, which you knew to be proceeds of criminal conduct, and thereby committed an offence contrary to and punishable under Section 319 (a) of the Penal Code Laws of Northern Nigeria.”
The three defendants pleaded guilty to their respective charges as read to them in court during the trial.
The court thereafter convicted and sentenced the defendants to various jail terms, relying on the credibility of the cases presented before it and the unchallenged evidence of the prosecution.
Justice Awogboro sentenced Aminu to 200 hours of community service without an option of fine. The judge also ordered that the sum of 50,000 CFA and N368,500 recovered from him at the point of arrest be forfeited to the Federal Government.
Justice Gegele, on his part, sentenced the duo of Akeem and Abdulahi to six months imprisonment each, with an option of N150,000. The sum of N4,069,000.00 was recovered from Akeem alongside his iPhone 11, and $600 (six hundred dollars) recovered from Abdulahi together with an iPhone 11 Pro Max, being proceeds of their crimes, were forfeited to the Federal Government.
The convicts received their sentences after being arrested for internet-related fraud. They were investigated, charged to court, and convicted.
