A 27-year-old fashion designer, Haruna Musa Tolani, has been sentenced to 12 months in prison by Justice Abimbola Awogboro of the Federal High Court sitting in Ilorin, Kwara State. Tolani was found guilty of impersonating Callitus Egwuonwu, an investigator with the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), and defrauding him of N20,000. The convict, who hails from Ilorin East Local Government Area, was initially arraigned on a two-count charge involving impersonation and cybercrime.
Tolani, who had initially pleaded not guilty when first charged on January 28, 2025, later changed his plea to guilty after the EFCC presented compelling evidence. The charges related to two incidents in August 2024, where Tolani fraudulently impersonated the EFCC investigator via electronic messages sent through USSD to Access Bank Plc, leading to the unauthorized purchase of N20,000 worth of MTN data from the victim’s account.
The first count of the charge detailed how Tolani misrepresented himself in a message sent to Access Bank, leading to the fraudulent purchase. The second count involved his fraudulent impersonation of Egwuonwu, which also resulted in the illicit transaction of N20,000.
In his ruling, Justice Awogboro sentenced Tolani to 12 months in prison, but also offered him the option of a fine of N200,000. The court further ordered the forfeiture of a manager’s cheque worth N200,000 from First Bank, to be handed over to the victim. Additionally, Tolani was directed to restitute the N20,000 he had fraudulently obtained from the victim.
Tolani’s conviction follows his arrest for internet fraud, and his subsequent guilty plea has led to this sentence as a warning against cybercrime and impersonation.
