As a way of passing a clear message to Nigerians that crime does not pay, Justice Joseph Oyewole of an Ikeja High Court on Thursday 13th October, 2011, sentenced two fraudsters - Ezekwesili Aniegbunana and Boanerge Beulah - to 20 years imprisonment each with hard labour. The two had duped their victim of $30,000 using the name of the late wife of former President Olusegun Obasanjo, Mrs. Stella Obasanjo.
They defraud a businessman, Felix Nnachukwu, on the pretext that...
the then first lady has a relationship with someone close to them and she was willing to help him re-validate an expired oil prospecting license at the Presidency. They told him that Mrs. Obasanjo requested a fee of $185,000 for the transaction but would not mind an installment payment.
In a bid to save his business, Mr. Nnachukwu gave out the first installment of $30,000 and got an "acknowledgment paper" in respect of the payment. However the bubble burst when they came asking for a second installment without no result from the first. The victim got suspicious and petitioned the EFCC, where investigations led to the arrest of the convicts.
During the trial, the commission [EFCC] proved to the court that none of the convicts was in anyway related to the late first lady. They were arraigned on a two-count charge of Conspiracy to Obtain Money by False Pretense and Obtaining Money by False Pretence... The trial lasted for six years - November 1, 2005 to October 13 2011.
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