Man Sentenced To 28-Years Imprisonment For Impersonating Buhari’s Spokesman

A Kwara State High Court has sentenced Jamiu Isiaka to 28 years for impersonating presidential spokesman Femi Adesina to defraud a South Korean.

The Ilorin zonal command of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), had on June 14, 2019, arraigned the defendant on four-count charges, to which he pleaded not guilty.

Mr Isiaka had presented himself as the president’s spokesperson and a former Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), late Maikanti Baru, to defraud South Korean Keun Sig Kim of N30 million.

The convict scammed the foreigner of various sums of money under the pretence of securing for him an NNPC approved marketing form and license certificate to buy crude oil in Nigeria, the court heard.

The impersonator said he used part of the money to buy a vulture, elephant skin, elephant intestine, the skull of a lion and liver of a gorilla as ingredients to conduct sacrifice for the South Korean.

The prosecutor tendered evidence of how the fraudster obtained $88,521 from his victim under the guise of helping him procure approval from the NNPC.

Delivering judgement on Thursday, Justice Mahmud Abdulgafar held that the prosecution tendered enough evidence to convince the court the defendant was guilty.

The court sentenced the fraudster to seven years in prison, on each count, to run concurrently, and ordered the forfeiture of properties recovered from the convict, which were said to have been proceeds of his unlawful activities.

The forfeited properties included a four-bedroom bungalow at Oke-Foma, Ilorin; a Toyota Corolla car; plasma television; home theatre; freezer; generator; washing machine; and an LG air conditioner.

In addition, the court also ordered restitution to the victim of the crime.