Fashion designer sentenced to prison for impersonating, defrauding EFCC investigator
Justice Abimbola Awogboro of the Federal High Court sitting in Ilorin, Kwara State, has handed a 12-month prison sentence to 27-year-old fashion designer Haruna Musa Tolani for impersonating and defrauding Callitus Egwuonwu, an investigating officer with the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Ilorin Zonal Directorate.
Tolani, who hails from Ilorin East Local Government Area of Kwara State, was initially arraigned on January 28, 2025, on two counts of impersonation and cybercrime. Although he pleaded not guilty at first, he later changed his plea to guilty after the EFCC’s counsel, Sesan Ola, presented compelling evidence against him.
The first count of the charge states: “That you Haruna Musa Tolani in August 2024 at Ilorin, within the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court with intent to defraud, misrepresented yourself via electronic message sent through unstructured supplementary service data (USSD) to Access Bank Plc, concerning account number 0022643389, property of Mr. Callistus Egwuonwu, with which you purchased N20000.00 (Twenty Thousand Naira) worth of MTN data, resulting in a loss to the account owner.”
The second count details that Tolani “fraudulently impersonated one Callistus Egwuonwu via electronic message sent through USSD to Access Bank Plc with respect to account number 0022643389, property of Callistus Egwuonwu, intending to purchase MTN data worth Twenty Thousand Naira (20,000.00), which you did purchase.”
In delivering the judgment, Justice Awogboro sentenced Tolani to a year in prison but also provided an option of a fine of N200,00 (Two Hundred Thousand Naira). Furthermore, the court ordered the forfeiture of a First Bank manager’s cheque of N200,000 to benefit the victim and mandated Tolani to restitute the sum of N20,000, the amount he fraudulently acquired.
Tolani’s conviction follows his arrest for internet fraud, leading to his guilty plea and subsequent sentencing.
