Driver Smiles as Court Sends Him to Prison for Fraud in Ibadan

A High Court sitting in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital on Monday, March 8, 2021, sentenced one Michael Tosin Lawal, an executive cab driver, to three-months in prison.

He was convicted by Justice M. A. Odegbola after he pleaded guilty to a revised one count charge bordering on obtaining money by deception, preferred against him by the Ibadan Zonal Office of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC.

The lone charge reads, “that you, Michael Tosin Lawal ‘M’ sometimes in the year 2020, in Ibadan Oyo State, within the jurisdiction of this Honorable Court, with intent to defraud, obtained Gift Cards from one Trevor, a white male by falsely representing to him that you are a white female by the name Cyndy Tyler from the United States of America, which pretence you knew to be false”.

Following his appeal, Justice Odegbola sentenced him to three months in prison. The convict was asked to restitute the sum of $50 (Fifty United States Dollars) to his victim through the EFCC and forfeit items recovered from him to the Federal Government of Nigeria.