Employment scam: Fake customs officer jailed 20 years in Kwara

Justice Mahmood Abdulgafar of the Kwara State High Court in Ilorin yesterday sentenced a fake Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) officer, Yakubu Azeez Afolayan, to 20 years imprisonment for impersonation and job scam.

Afolayan (34) had paraded himself as a customs officer and swindled a number of job seekers under the guise of helping them secure employment into the customs.

Afolayan who hails from Share in Ifelodun LGA of the state was arraigned on March 14, 2019, on a four-count by the Ilorin Zonal Office of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), where he pleaded not guilty.

On Thursday, Afolayan’s counsel, S. O Ishola, urged the court to temper justice with mercy, saying, “He is a first time offender.”

But EFCC’s counsel, Andrew Akoja, drew the attention of the court to Section 1(a) and 1(3) of the Advance Fee Fraud and other fraud related offences Act, 2006, which prescribes a maximum of seven years imprisonment for the offence for which the defendant was charged on counts one and two.

Akoja further told the court to consider Section 386 of the Penal Code Law which prescribes a maximum of three years imprisonment for the offences on counts three and four.

Delivering judgment, Justice Abdulgafar said, “I hereby sentence you, Yakubu Azeez Afolayan, to seven years imprisonment on counts one and two and three years imprisonment on counts three and four,” adding that they were to run concurrently.