Judiciary
A federal high court in Lagos on Wednesday convicted and sentenced one Ibrahim Sodiq to a non-custodial term of six months, for cyber crime.
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) had arraigned Sodiq before Justice Kehinde Ogundare on a two-count charge bordering on impersonation on Instagram.
He had pleaded guilty.
In view of his guilty plea, the court reviewed the facts of the case, with EFCC counsel, Mrs Hannatu Umar, calling a witness, Mr Abdullahi Magaji.
The witness, an operative of EFCC, narrated before the court how Sodiq was arrested and his iPhone 11 Pro seized and analysed.
He told the court that following forensic analysis of the iphone, it was discovered that Sodiq was into internet fraud.
According to the witness, the convict created an Instagram account with the name – Amanda Glory – a female from the U.S.
He added that investigations revealed that Sodiq got 5,000 dollars through Internet fraud.
He said that documents used for the fraud were printed from the analysed iphone.
EFCC counsel then showed the witness statements by Sodiq as well as other documents, which he identified.
The court consequently admitted and marked them Exhibit A, B and C respectively.
The counsel urged the court to proceed and convict Sodiq based on his guilty plea and the evidence adduced.
The court, accordingly, found Sodiq guilty as charged.
The court sentenced Sodiq to three months non-custodial term on count one and three months non-custodial term on count two.
The court held that the terms shall run concurrently.
The court, however, gave him an option of N100, 000 fine on each count.
According to EFCC, the defendant committed the offences sometime in September 2023 on Lagos Island.
The offences contravene Sections 22(2)(b) of the Cyber Crime Prohibition Act of 2015 and Section 18(1)(a) of the EFCC Act of 2004. (NAN)
A.
-May 15, 2024 @ 17:11 GMT|
Tags: EFCC Mr Abdullahi Magaji. Mrs Hannatu Umar
