The State High Court sitting in Ibadan, Oyo state has sentenced seven internet fraudsters known “Yahoo boys” to prison for offences bordering on Internet crime.
The convicts: Ogunyemi Olajide Temitope, Olamilekan Fafiolu Quadri, Olamilekan Paul Akinyemi, Ayegbusi Ayokunle, Taiwo Azeez Dolapo, Adeogun Usman Oluwatobiloba and Oyewumi Michael Oluwapelumi, were jailed on August 8 & 9, 2022.
They were convicted after pleading guilty to one-count separate charge, upon their arraignment by the Ibadan Zonal Command of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC.
Based on their pleas, prosecution counsels: Oluwatoyin Owodunni and Mabars Mabur prayed the court to convict and sentence them as charged.
Justice Taiwo thereafter convicted and sentenced Temitope, Quadri, Akinyemi and Ayokunle to six months community service each and further ordered that “any of the convict who fails to report at any point in time to their designated places assigned for the six months community service, shall be sentenced to three years imprisonment at the end of the community service”.
Furthermore, the judge convicted and sentenced Oluwatobiloba to six months imprisonment but Dolapo and Oluwapelumi to six months community service each.
Also, the court ordered Temitope to pay the sum of $4,600USD (Four Thousand, Six Hundred United States Dollars) in restitution, Akinyemi $3,000USD (Three Thousand United States Dollars) and Quadri $1,000 (One Thousand United States Dollars).
Other convicts were also ordered to restitute their victims and forfeit all items recovered from them to the Federal Government of Nigeria.
The convicts’ journey to the Correctional Centre began when they were arrested by operatives of the Ibadan Zonal Command of the EFCC for internet-related offences. They were charged to court and convicted.