Justice Sikiru Oyinloye of the Kwara State High Court, sitting in Ilorin has convicted and sentenced a 400 Level undergraduate of the University of Ilorin, Akinsanya Olamide Ridwan, to three months Community Service for committing romance scam.
The service requires him to clear the drainage at Bekind petrol filling station near Tipper Garage, Tanke, Ilorin up to the gate of the University of Ilorin for three months commencing from September 2, 2020.
Ridwan got the jail term on Monday, August 31, 2020, after being arraigned on a one-count charge, bordering on internet fraud and other fraud-related offences by the Ilorin zonal office of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
The charge read: “That you, Akinsanya Ridwan (a.k.a Alex James) sometime in March 2020 or thereabout at Ilorin, Kwara State within the jurisdiction of this Honorable Court attempted to commit an offence of cheating by personation by pretending and representing yourself to be a white man called Alex James to an unsuspected white woman, Stewart Sonia, on a dating site called Hangout as it is contained in your Gmail account: alexjames789123@gmail.com and thereby committed an offence contrary to and punishable under Section 95 of the Penal Code Laws of Northern Nigeria.”
The defendant pleaded guilty to the one-count charge.
While reviewing the facts of the case, an Assistant Detective Superintendent with the EFCC, Ilorin zonal office, Mahmoud Ibrahim Hamman, told the court, “My Lord, the defendant was arrested on March 16, 2020, at Pipeline area, behind Princess Hotel, Ilorin, Kwara State, based on intelligence.
“A search was conducted in his house and one Galaxy phone and laptop were recovered. We analysed them and discovered an email box where several fraudulent messages were printed in his presence.”
Delivering judgment on the matter, Justice Oyinloye convicted and sentenced the defendant, based on exhibits tendered and the proof of evidence brought before the court.
The Judge ordered the convict to clear the drainage at Bekind filing Station near Tipper Garage, Tanke up to the gate of the University of Ilorin for three months commencing from September 2, 2020.
He said the convict should get a notice of clearance from the Registrar of the University of Ilorin and the Kwara State Command of the Nigerian Correctional Service, adding that failure to do so would attract him six months imprisonment.
The court also ordered the convict to pay a fine of N50,000 in addition to the community service.
