Fraud: Kogi court jails 23-year-old for 5 years

By Adeleye Kunle

A High Court of Justice sitting in Lokoja, the Kogi State capital, has sentenced a 23-year-old man, Yusuf Salawu, to five years imprisonment for an offense bordering on internet fraud.

The offense is contrary to section 354(2) of the Administration of Criminal Justice Law of Kogi State, 2017 (ACJLKS, 2017) and punishable under section 320 of the State’s penal code.

The judgment was delivered in a summary trial by his lordship, Hon. Justice Josiah Joe Majebi, the Chief Judge of the State and presiding Judge of the High Court one, in a suit instituted by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) with file number HCL/80C/2022.

Justice Majebi also used the delivery of the judgment to counsel other youths in the State to avoid acts capable of derailing them and jeopardizing their future.

He said courts in Kogi State would not hesitate to apply the law on whoever has been satisfactorily proven to have committed any offense.

His admonition came after the defendant’s counsel pleaded with the court to temper justice with mercy because his client was a first time offender who was already remorseful, unhappy and regretted committing the crime.

The court’s verdict followed the defendant’s plea of guilt after the singular charge of internet fraud was read to him as presented before the court by the prosecution counsel to the EFCC, Andrew Akoja Esq