Fake customs officer jailed 20 years for employment scam

A Kwara state high court has sentenced Yakub Azeez Afolayan, a fake customs officer, to 20 years in prison for offences bordering on impersonation and employment fraud.

Afolayan, 34, was arraigned on a four-count charge by 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.

While delivering the judgement on Thursday, Mahmood Abdulgafar, the presiding judge, convicted Afolayan of the offences.

Abdulgafar said the prosecution has proved beyond reasonable doubt that the defendant is guilty.

“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 the various sum of monies from his victims as application fees. All this evidence were not challenged or controverted by the defendant,” he said.

“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.”