UNIPORT undergraduate sentenced to 14 years in prison for fraud
Henry Nathaniel Ekanem, a final-year student at the University of Port Harcourt (UNIPORT), has been sentenced to 14 years in prison for internet fraud.
Justice A. T. Mohammed of the Federal High Court in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, convicted him on seven counts, imposing a two-year sentence for each count. Ekanem also has the option to pay a fine of ₦200,000, which must be deposited into the Consolidated Revenue Account of the Federal Government of Nigeria.
The judge also ordered the forfeiture of all phones recovered from the convict, as they were deemed proceeds of crime.
According to a statement from the Head of Media and Publicity, Dele Oyewale, the convict was arrested by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) in September 2024 at Choba, Port Harcourt.
Oyewale noted that the convict pleaded guilty when the charges were read, and he was arraigned by the Port Harcourt Zonal Directorate of the EFCC on seven counts related to obtaining money under false pretenses and impersonation. These offenses are contrary to Section 1(1)(a) and punishable under Section 1(3) of the Advance Fee Fraud and Other Fraud-Related Offences Act 2006.
The convict reportedly defrauded one Diana Roskov of $22, among other amounts, while fraudulently posing as Coran Capshaw, manager of singer Chris Stapleton, through WhatsApp and Instagram chats.
Given the guilty plea, prosecution counsel A. Abubakar called witnesses and submitted documents as evidence, which were admitted by the court as exhibits. He then requested that the court convict and sentence the defendant accordingly.
The defendant’s counsel, F. T. Fred-Boufini, did not oppose the prosecution’s requests but urged the court to temper justice with mercy, highlighting that the defendant was a first-time offender with no prior criminal record.
Proofreading by Uchechi Ojo, Sub-editor at NeptunePrime.
Follow the Neptune Prime channel on WhatsApp: https://whatsapp.com/channel/0029Va74ZvU2v1IqKByXoX3d
Do you have breaking news, interview request, opinion, suggestion, or want your event covered? Email us at neptuneprime2233@gmail.com
, has been sentenced to 14 years in prison){kind=link}