- They pleaded guilty to the charges when they were read to them
Justice O.O. Abike-Fadipe of the Special Offences Court in Ikeja, Lagos, has sentenced Ugwu Pascal Chijioke and Ibrahim Sadiq Adekunle to 46 years in prison for impersonating operatives of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) while executing a fake court order.
The Lagos Zonal Command of the EFCC re-arraigned them on an amended five-count charge, which included impersonation, attempting to obtain property, possession of documents containing false pretenses, and unlawfully wearing the EFCC uniform.
One of the counts reads: “That you, Ugwu Pascal Chijioke and Ibrahim Sadiq Adekunle, on or about the 12th day of May, 2021 in Lagos, within the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court, by false pretence and with intent to defraud, attempted to obtain property from one Oriyomi Johnson under the pretext that the “Chief Magistrate Court, Lagos State Judiciary, Mushin, Lagos” issued an Order to the effect that the property located at New Horizon Estate, Lekki- Ikate, Lagos be seized and the said apartment sealed pending the arrival of the said Oriyomi Johnson, which representation you knew to be false and committed an offence of attempt to obtain property by false pretense contrary to Sections 8(b) of the Advanced Fee Fraud and Other Fraud Related Offences Act, 2006 and punishable under Section11(3) of the same Act.”
They pleaded guilty to the charges when they were read to them.
Justice Abike-Fadipe found them guilty as charged on counts one, two, three, four and five. And sentenced each of them to seven years on counts one to three each, one year on count four and eight months on count five. The sentences are to run concurrently.
The convicts were arrested sometime in May, 2021, following credible intelligence received by the Commission, while they were in the middle of an illegal operation at the New Horizon Estate, Lekki, Lagos.
Items recovered from them at the point of arrest included fake EFCC identity cards, jackets, and a court order purported to have emanated from Mushin Magistrate Court.