Korede Abdullah in Lagos
A Federal High Court in Ilorin has sentenced 23-year-old Adebisi Emmanuel Olalekan to two years’ imprisonment for cybercrime, including cheating and impersonation.
A statement by the Head of Media and Publicity for the EFCC, Dele Oyewale, made available to the press in Ilorin, Kwara state on Wednesday, said that the case originated from a report by the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps, which alerted the EFCC to Olalekan’s cybercriminal activities.
The convict, a native of Omuo-Ekiti, was found guilty of defrauding foreign victims by posing as fictitious personalities such as “Joshua Compbell Novak” between August and December 2024. “That you, Adebisi Emmanuel Olalekan… fraudulently impersonated one Joshua Compbell Novak via your Gmail account and TextPlus number… thereby committing an offence,” the court document read.
During the trial, EFCC counsel Sesan Ola presented evidence from the investigating officer, Paul Aniebonam, who testified that Olalekan created fake online identities to deceive victims, including Allisa Motazedi and Brittany Boggess, out of $100,000 and $1,000 respectively.
“The luxury car was bought in October 2024 with proceeds from the fraud, while N124 million traced to his Wema Bank account came from similar illicit deals,” Aniebonam told the court, as documents and devices used in the fraud were submitted as exhibits.
In delivering the judgment on Wednesday, May 21, 2025, Justice Awogboro sentenced Olalekan to 12 months in prison on each of the two counts, to run concurrently, and approved the forfeiture of his criminal proceeds to the Federal Government.
“The court grants final forfeiture of all traced assets,” Justice Awogboro ruled, confirming the seizure of N124.4 million, a N30 million Mercedes-Benz ML350, and an iPhone 14 Pro Max used in perpetrating the crimes.
