The Ibadan Zonal Command of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, on Wednesday, July 20, 2022, secured the conviction and sentencing of the trio of Ajibola Jamiu Adewale, Daniel Ayomide Aremu and Olaide Ibrahim Opeyemi before Justice Uche Agomoh of the Federal High Court, Ibadan, Oyo State for fraudulent impersonation, contrary to Section 22 (2) (b) (i) of Cybercrimes (Prohibition, Prevention etc.) Act, 2015.
Adewale was arraigned on two counts, while Aremu and Olaide Opeyemi were docked on separate one count charges.
The charge against Aremu reads: “That you, Daniel Ayomide Aremu on or about 29th of July, 2021 within the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court with intent to defraud, knowingly impersonated one Daniella Jessica when you falsely represented yourself as a woman to one John Clenny in order to gain advantage for yourself contrary to Section 22 (2) (b) (ii) of the Cybercrimes (Prohibition, Prevention etc.) Act, 2015 and punishable under Section 22 (2) (b) of the same Act.”
Count one of the charge against Adewale reads: “That you, Ajibola Jamiu Adewale ‘M’ on or about the 13th of September, 2021 within the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court, with intent to defraud, created a profile on the internet with the email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. whereby you represented yourself as a 25 years old white American woman from Arizona by name Jessica Mark, and by this means you obtained benefits and gained advantage (including the benefit of the sum of N7.7million in your UBA Account, a Toyota Venza hybrid car with Reg. NO. ABC 233 PD, a blue coloured iPhone12 Pro Max mobile handset, i-watch series 6 and a gold iPhone S Max), a pretext which you knew to be false, and you thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 22 (2) (b) (i) of the Cybercrimes (Prohibition, Prevention etc.) Act, 2015 and punishable under the same Act.”
The defendants pleaded “guilty” to the charges preferred against them by the EFCC.
In view of their pleas, prosecution counsel, C.A. Okoli and Modupe Akinkoye reviewed the facts of the cases, tendered confessional statements made by the convicts and other indicting documents before the court. They urged the court to convict and sentence the defendants as charged.
Consequently, Justice Agomoh convicted and sentenced Opeyemi to two years imprisonment, Adewale and Aremu seven and six months imprisonment respectively.
The court further ordered that Adewale restitute the sum of N8million domiciled in his banks accounts and forfeit a Toyota Venza car amongst other items believed to be the proceeds of the crime committed. Also, Aremu and Opeyemi are to restitute their victims and forfeit all items recovered from them.
The convicts were ordered to write a “letter of undertaking” stating that they will never engage in any crime, especially cybercrime again and submit the same to the Ibadan Zonal Command of the EFCC.
Media & Publicity
21 July, 2022