Fake EFCC Officers Get 46 Years In Prison For Fraud, Impersonation

A Lagos court has sentenced two men, Ugwu Chijioke and Ibrahim Adekunle to 46 years in prison for impersonating officers of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and issuing a fake court order.

A statement on X.com on Sunday revealed that the pair were apprehended in May 2021 at New Horizon Estate, Lekki, Lagos, based on credible intelligence provided to the commission.

When arrested, they were caught performing an illegal operation, with fake EFCC identity cards, jackets, and a purported court order from Mushin Magistrate Court recovered from them.

They were subsequently arraigned on October 12, 2021, by the Lagos Zonal Command of the EFCC on a five-count charge.

The charges were amended to include impersonation, attempted property fraud, possession of false documents, and unlawful wear of the EFCC uniform.

The suspects appeared before Justice O.O. Abike-Fadipe at the Special Offences Court in Ikeja, where they admitted to the charges.

After the defendants pleaded guilty, prosecution counsel Abdulhamid Tukur reviewed the case facts, proving their guilt, and requested the court to issue a guilty verdict and impose appropriate sentences.

Finding them guilty on all charges, Justice Abike-Fadipe sentenced the defendants to seven years each for counts one through three, one year each for count four, and eight months each for count five.

The defendants, given a chance to address the court, pleaded for leniency.

The sentences are to be served concurrently.

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.”

Another count 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 not being a person holding any office in or authority of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, wore a jacket bearing the official mark of the Commission, which was calculated to convey the impression that you held such authority and committed an offence of unlawfully wearing the uniform of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission contrary to Section 79(1) (b) of the Criminal Law of Lagos State, 2011.”