Fake customs officer bags 20-year jail term in Kwara over job scam

Justice Mahmood Abdulgafar of Kwara State High Court sitting in Ilorin on Thursday sentenced a fake Customs officer, Yakubu Azeez Afolayan, to 20-year imprisonment, having found him guilty of offences bordering on impersonation and employment scam.

The 34-year-old Afolayan from Saare in Ifelodun local government area of Kwara State was arraigned on a four-count charge by the Ilorin zonal office of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).

“That you, Yakubu Azeez Afolayan, between the months of November 2018 and January 2019 in Ilorin, within the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court, with the intent to defraud, obtained the gross sum of N267,000 (Two Hundred and Sixty-seven Thousand Naira) only from one Usman Janet Opeyemi through your UBA account number under the false pretence that you are capable of securing employment for her son with the Nigerian Customs Service; the representation you knew to be false and thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 1 (a) of the Advance Fee Fraud and other Fraud Related Offences Act, 2006 and punishable under Section 1 (3) of the same Act,” the charge sheet reads.

He pleaded not guilty to the charges thereby setting stage for his full trial.

In his judgment on Thursday, Justice Abdulgafar opined that from the totality of the evidence placed before the court, the prosecution had proved its case beyond reasonable doubt and linked the accused to the crime.

“It is very clear from the totality of the evidence of PW1 – PW4 that the prosecution has proved its case beyond reasonable doubts.

“It was the evidence of PW1 that the Nigerian Customs Service does not sell its recruitment forms to job applicants, but the defendant was collecting various sum of monies from his victims as application fees. All these evidence were not challenged or controverted by the defendant,” the judge said.

Consequently, Justice Abdulgafar said there was nothing the court could do than to follow the provisions of the law in sentencing the convict.

“I hereby sentence you, Yakubu Azeez Afolayan to 7 years imprisonment on count 1; 7 years imprisonment on count 2; 3 years imprisonment on count 3 and 3 years imprisonment on count 4, to run concurrently,” the judge ruled.