A High Court in Ilorin yesterday ordered that one Azeez Afolayan who impersonated the Comptroller General, Nigeria Customs Service, Col. Hameed Ali ( rtd ) should be remanded in prison
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) arraigned Afolayan, 32, for defrauding innocent Nigerians, seeking employment into the Service.
Presiding Judge, Justice M. Abdulgafar, gave the order following a prayer for the court to remand the accused by the EFCC counsel, Mr Andrew Akoja.
Abdulgafar adjourned the case until March 19, for trial.
Earlier, Akoja told the court that the accused was arrested on March 8.
Akoja alleged that between November 2018 and January 2019, the accused, collected about N1 million from unsuspecting applicants with a promise to secure employment for them.
Trouble started for the accused when a staff of the Nigeria Customs Service, Hasaan Garba Muhammed petitioned the EFCC, accusing him of defrauding innocent Nigerians, seeking employment into the Service. He had so far defrauded them of about N1, 000, 000.
One of the counts reads: “That you, Yakubu Azeez Afolayan, between the months of November 2018 and January 2018 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 Services; 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.”
He pleaded “not guilty” to the charges.
Counsel for the EFCC, Andrew Akoja, urged the court to give a date for trial for prosecution to prove its case, and to order the remand of the defendant in prison.
Counsel for the defendant, A.A. Raheem, however, moved an oral application for bail, which was turned down by the Judge.
Justice Abdulgafar, thereafter, ordered that the defendant be remanded in Oke-Kura Prison, and adjourned to March 19, 2019 for hearing of the bail application.
The EFCC said the offence contravened the provisions of Section 1(a) of the advance fee fraud and other related offences Act 2006 and punishable under section 1(3) of the same Act.
He said that the accused person also committed an offence, contrary to sections 362 and 366 and punishable under section 364 of the penal code law.
The accused person pleaded not guilty to the offence.
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