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Presidential aide, Adesina’s impostor jailed 28 years

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Justice Mahmud Abdulgafar of the Kwara State High Court, Ilorin on Thursday sentenced a self-styled Alfa to 28 years in prison for N30million fraud.

The convict simply identified as Jamiu was arraigned by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on a four-count charge of fraud and obtaining by false pretence on June 14, 2019.

The offences, according to the commission, were contrary to Section 1(1) (a) of the Advance Fee Fraud and Other Fraud Related Offences Act, 2006.

The judge held that the prosecution had sufficiently proved its case against the convict.

He said the commission tendered enough evidence to convince the court that the 33-year-old was guilty of the allegations brought against him.

The EFCC’s Head of Media and Publicity, Wilson Uwujaren, who confirmed the self-styled Alfa’s conviction in a statement sent to Ripples Nigeria, said he presented himself as the Special Adviser on Media and Publicity to the President, Femi Adesina and a former Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Maikanti Baru, to defraud a South Korean National, Keun Sig Kim, of N30million.

The statement read: “The 33-year-old Jamiu, while parading as senior government official deceived the foreign national to collect various sums of money under the pretext of securing for him an NNPC approval/ marketing form and license certificate to buy crude oil in Nigeria.

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“In the course of interrogation, Alfa Jamiu claimed that he used the money to conduct sacrifice for the petitioner. According to him, part of the money was used to buy vulture, elephant skin, elephant intestine, skull of a lion, and liver of gorilla used as ingredients in the sacrifice.

“In the course of the trial, counsel to the EFCC, O. B Akinsola called two witnesses including Detective Dare Folarin who narrated how the defendant was arrested and how several fraudulent funds were traced to his bank accounts.

“The Prosecution tendered evidence on how Jamiu obtained the sum of $88,521.41 from his victim under the guise of helping him to procure approval form from the NNPC.

“The EFCC also gave an account of how the defendant impersonated some senior government officials including the then Group Managing Director of the NNPC, Dr. Maikanti Baru; National Commissioner of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Mrs. Aminat Zakari and Special Adviser on Media and Publicity to the President, Mr. Femi Adesina, among others.

“The defendant did not controvert the charge or the evidence tendered by the EFCC.

Justice Abdulgafar found Jamiu guilty of the four counts brought against him and sentenced him to seven years imprisonment on each count, which is to run concurrently.

“In addition, the judge ordered the forfeiture of some properties recovered from the convict, which are proceeds of his unlawful activities. They are a four bed-room bungalow measuring 1813.132 located at Oke-Foma in Ilorin West Local Government Area of Kwara State, a Toyota Corolla Car, One Plasma Television, Home Theatre, Freezer, Generator, Washing Machine, and LG Air Conditioner, to the Federal Government.

“The court also ordered restitution to the victim of the crime.”

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