According to reports, Justice O. A. Adeniyi of the FCT High Court sitting in Apo, Abuja on Tuesday, June 20, 2017, convicted and sentenced one Micheal Ogun (a.k.a Idris Suleiman, Ibrahim Bello) to 27 months in prison on a six-count charge of forgery and obtaining by false pretence brought against him by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC.
Ogun allegedly poses as an officer of the Nigeria Customs Service, NCS and Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps, NSCDC, and in that assumed capacity defrauding innocent Nigerians of their hard-earned money under the guise of securing them a job in the two agencies.The job scam was reported to the EFCC by one Angela Chinwe Okeke after being duped by the defendant.
In the course of the trial, Ogun changed his plea following a plea bargain agreement. At the resumed sitting today, Justice Adeniyi asked the defendant to carefully study the plea bargain arrangement and confirm if he fully understood the terms and conditions contained therein noting that, the matter was adjourned for conviction and conclusion of the trial, following chilling evidence tendered against him by the prosecution.
Responding, Ogun’s counsel, Samuel Zibiri, SAN, stated that the defendant has pleaded guilty to all counts. Referring to paragraph three of the plea bargain, Zibiri urged the court to look at the option of fine adding that the defendant is a young married man with a wife and two infants alongside his aged parents. He further stated that Ogun will restitute all his victims with veritable claims and proof of monies paid.
Justice Adeniyi, after a careful perusal of the plea bargain terms, ruled out the option of fine holding that, “the plea bargain was an afterthought coming in at the dying minute after the prosecution has proved its case beyond every reasonable doubt”.
The judge, thereafter, found the defendant guilty and sentenced him to three months each on counts one to five without an option of a fine and one year on count six. Additionally, the convict is to refund the money fraudulently collected from all his clients.
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