19th March, 2024
By Ayorinde Oluokun/Abuja
Another six of 48 students of Kwara State University, KWASU recently arrested by operatives of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC have been convicted and jailed for involvement in internet fraud.
The KWASU students were convicted and sentenced on Monday, March 18, 2024, by Justices Evelyn Anyadike of the Federal High Court and Justice Adebayo Yusuf of the Kwara State High Court in Ilorin.
They were jailed after they pleaded guilty to one-count separate charges following their arraignment by the Ilorin Zonal Command of the EFCC.
The convicts are Aransiola Oluwaseun Stephen, Owoeye Adeyanju Ezekiel, Idris Yekini Kayode, Abdulrahman Abubakar, Rafiu Ashimiu Adisa and Raheem Ayomide Monsur.
The charges against Stephen reads: “That you, Aransiola Oluwaseun Stephen in February 2024 in Ilorin, within the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court, did cheat by personation when you pretended to be one Cindy Watson, a White female, based in United States of America, and in that guise induced one Randy Driskill to send you the sum of $350 (Three Hundred and Fifty Dollars) which you did receive via gift cards thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 321 of the Penal Code Law and Punishable under Section 324 of the same law”
All the defendants pleaded guilty to their respective charges when they were read to them.
Following their “guilty pleas”, EFCC’s counsel, Innocent Mbachie, Adebayo Aliyu, Charles Oni and Rasheedat Alao, reviewed the facts of the cases and tendered the statements and items recovered from the defendants at the point of arrest, which were admitted in evidence.
The judges convicted and sentenced them accordingly. They also ordered that the phones and laptops recovered from them, as well as balances in their bank accounts be forfeited to the Federal Government.
Recall that the two courts had last week jailed another set of six students of KWASU among the 48 arrested by the EFCC recently.