Justice Oluwatoyin Taiwo of the Special Offences Court sitting in Ikeja, Lagos, on Thursday, March 19, 2020  convicted and sentenced Badrix Anuoluwapo Joshua, Ikpi Godfrey Nana,  Ajayi Damilola Leke and Lawal Olamide to six months imprisonment each for their involvement in internet fraud.

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC arraigned the convicts on a one-count charge each of  "possession of fraudulent document".

One of the charges reads: "That you Badrix Anuoluwapo Joshua sometime in 2020, in Lagos within the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court, had in your possession documents containing false pretence, wherein you falsely represented yourself as "Joy Sarah" which you ought to have known that the said documents contains false pretence."

Another charge reads: "That you Ajayi Damilola Leke (AKA HILLARY SCOTT, MATTHEW CURTIS, DONALD TRUBY), on or about the 8th day of March, 2020 in Lagos within the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court, had in your possession a fraudulent document tilted: "Account Recovery Options" wherein you represented yourself as Hillary Scott, Matthew Curtis and Donald Truby amongst other fraudulent names, with email address This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., a pretence you knew was false." They all pleaded guilty. Upon their plea, prosecution counsel, Franklin Ufoma, urged the court to allow him review the facts of their cases.

Franklin, reviewing the facts, told the court that following intelligence report, the convicts were arrested amongst other syndicates in a hotel in Ikorodu, Lagos State, where they perpetrated their internet fraudulent activities.

He further reviewed that two Nokia phones, a Samsung Galaxy phone, one IphoneX and one iPhone 7 were recovered from the convicts and they all made confessional statements wherein they admitted committing the offences.

Consequently, Frankiln urged the court to convict and sentence the defendants as charged. He also prayed the court to forfeit all items recovered from them to the Federal Government.

Justice Taiwo accordingly convicted and sentenced the defendants to six months each.

She also ordered the forfeiture of the items recovered from the convicts to the Federal Government of Nigeria.

She however gave an "option of fine" of N200, 000 to Badrix Anuoluwapo Joshua, Ikpi Godfrey Nana and Lawal Olamide but gave an "option of fine" of N250,000 to Ajayi Damilola Leke.



Media & Publicity

March 20, 2020