Justice Oluwatoyin Taiwo of the Lagos State Special Offences Court in Ikeja yesterday convicted and sentenced a fake Army General, Oluwasegun Abiodun Bolarinwa to seven years imprisonment without an option of fine for fraud, forgery and impersonation.
Justice Taiwo sent the convict, whose real name is Hassan Kareem Ayinde, to prison after he pleaded guilty to a 13-count charge brought against him by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
He is also to forfeit four vehicles recovered during a search of his home at 1A Joke Ayo Street, Alagbado, Lagos.
The judge also ordered the forfeiture of a building located at 1 Joke Ayo Street, Alagbado, a black Range Rover Sport HSA with Reg No APJ YAB 289 BD, a black BMW 750 NNI with Chassis No WBAKC6C51A393501, a black Toyota Land Cruiser V6 ESR with Chassis No JINHU09JXV4086310 and a white Toyota Hilux with Reg No Lagos KTU 985 BT.
The court further directed that the convict’s First Bank of Nigeria account containing the sum of N1,400 be closed and be used to compensate the victim of the crime.
The EFCC had accused the convict of falsely representing himself as a General in the Nigerian Army and obtained the sum of N266,500,000 from Kodef Clearing Resources Limited.
The anti-graft agency had also claimed that the convict carried out the acts under the false pretences that the sum represented part of the amount expended to “press and process” his appointment by the President and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, as the Chief of Army Staff of the Nigerian Army.
He had, however, pleaded not guilty to all the charges when he was arraigned and his bail application was refused by the court.
The EFCC prosecutor, Rotimi Oyedepo had called six witnesses and tendered several exhibits to prove the case against the convict before closing his case on June 20, 2022.
But at the resumed hearing of the matter, yesterday, the defence counsel, Otunba Ogunleye informed the judge that his client had decided to change his plea, “rather than going through the rigours of defence.”
After his new plea was taken, Oyedepo gave a review of the facts, urging the court to rely on the evidence of the witnesses presented by the prosecution and the various documents tendered through them as Exhibit A to W.
Also, he urged the court to convict the defendant as charged.
In her judgment, Justice Taiwo convicted him as charged. In his allocutus, the defence counsel urged the court to temper justice with mercy by giving his client a very minimal sentence, stating that the convict was remorseful as “demonstrated by his willingness to change his plea and not to further waste the judicial time in this case.”
Responding, Oyedepo noted that the prosecution had no record of his previous conviction, but urged the court to impose a sentence to serve as deterrence to others who may want to engage in similar crimes in the future.
The lawyer also urged the court to take cognisance of the fact that the document used for the fraud “was purportedly signed by the Commander-in-Chief, our current and sitting President of the country, the most revered office in the land”, and so prayed the court to impose a sentence “that will deter anybody from joking with that office.”
He further urged the court to order the forfeiture of all his seized assets and bank account.
While handing down the sentence, Justice Taiwo held that the defendant went to the length of involving a former president of this country, General Obasanjo and forged documents allegedly signed by the current president of this country, President Muhammadu Buhari.
She held, “It is obvious that the defendant appears to be a very intelligent man, more is the pity that he could not put his ingenuity to better use. In the light of the seriousness of this scam, and to send a clear message to all scammers, fraudsters and criminals, this court is prepared to protect the interest of Nigerians and the society at large.
“I, therefore, sentenced the defendant to seven years imprisonment without an option of fine.”
