The Chief Judge of the Sokoto State High Court, M. Sifawa, has sentenced a scammer, identified as Freedom Inah, to ten (10) years in prison for defrauding one Ahmed Jelani of N1.8m.

Inah’s conviction on Tuesday, March 32st, 2020, resulted from his prosecution by Nigeria’s anti-graft agency, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Sokoto zonal office, on one count of cheating.

The charge read,

That you, Freedom Inah, while acting as a travel agent for Gulf Centre International Travel and Tourism, United Arab Emirates, and Top Valley Speciality Hospital, UAE, and Nwabueze Joseph and Peter Ike (now at large), sometime in 2019 in Sokoto, within the judicial division of the High Court of Justice of Sokoto State, dishonestly induced one Ahmed Jelani to pay the total sum of N1,435,250 into three different accounts, including the sum of N395,000, into your Access Bank account by deceiving him with an offer of appointment from Top Valley Speciality Hospital, thereby committing an offence contrary to Section 310 of the Sokoto State Penal Code, 2019, and punishable under Section 311 of the same law.

These information were part of a statement by the acting EFCC spokesman, Tony Orilade.

After being arraigned before the court, Inah pleaded guilty to the charge.

In view of his plea, the counsel for the EFCC, S. Sa’ad, asked the court to convict and sentence him in line with the Penal Code of Sokoto State,

the statement said.

The defence counsel, Shamsu Dauda, however, pleaded with the court to temper justice with mercy, considering that his client was a first-time offender, who was also remorseful of his deeds.

He also told the court that the convict had fully paid back the victim what he stole from him.

Justice Sifawa, thereafter, convicted and sentenced the defendant to serve ten (10) years in jail, with an option of N200,000 fine.

Justin Nwosu

Justin Nwosu is the founder and publisher of Flavision. His core interest is in writing unbiased news about Nigeria in particular and Africa in general. He’s a strong adherent of investigative journalism, with a bent on exposing corruption, abuse of power and societal ills.