The Federal High Court sitting in Ilorin, the capital of Kwara State, has sentenced a 27-year-old fashion designer, Haruna Tolani, to 12 months imprisonment for impersonating and defrauding an investigating officer with the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Callitus Egwuonwu, in the state.
Tolani was initially arraigned on a two-count charge bordering on impersonation and cybercrime on January 28, 2025, and pleaded not guilty.
He later changed his plea to guilty after overwhelming evidence was presented by the EFCC counsel, Sesan Ola.
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Count one of the charge read: “That you Haruna Musa Tolani in August 2024 at Ilorin within the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court with intent to defraud, misrepresented yourself via electronic message sent through unstructured supplementary service data (USSD) to Access Bank Plc. With respect to account number 0022643389, property of Mr Callistus Egwuonwu, with which you purchased N20,000 worth of MTN data which resulted into loss to the owner of the account and you thereby commit an offence contrary to and punishable under Section 14(2) of the cybercrime (Prohibition and Prevention) Act, 2015.”
Delivering judgement on Friday, May 16, Justice Abimbola Awogboro imposed a 12-month custodial sentence on Tolani with an option of a fine of N200,000.
Justice Awogboro also ordered the forfeiture of a First Bank manager’s cheque of N200,000 in favour of the victim and directed the fashion designer to restitute the sum of N20,000, the amount he fraudulently obtained.
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