A Calabar-based lawyer, Ezechi Okereke, was on Friday convicted and jailed for seven years by a Federal High Court sitting in Calabar for a failed land transaction.
Okereke was convicted on one count of obtaining the sum of N3.45m from one Enwono Eyo under false pretences.
In his judgment, Justice I. E. Ekwo, sentenced Okereke to seven years’ imprisonment with the prison term commencing from July 8, 2015, when he was arraigned.
Justice Ekwo also ordered that the convict must pay the sum of N2,950,000 before his release from prison.
The judgment read in part, “In the one count dated July 8, 2015, the allegation against the defendant is that with the intent to defraud, he obtained the sum of N3,450,000.00 from one Enwono Abasi Emmanuel Eyo by false pretences to enable him release allotment paper for a plot of land situated at Satellite Town, Calabar, alloted to him by the Federal Ministry of Lands and Housing, Calabar, a representation he knew to be false, thereby committing an offence contrary to and punishable under sections 1 (a) (b), 2 and 3 of the Advance Fee Fraud and other Related (Offences) Act, Cap. D11, Vol.2, LFN, 2006.
“On the whole, I find that the case of the prosecution has been proved beyond reasonable doubt and I so hold.
“I find the defendant guilty and I make an order convicting him as charged. The convict is sentenced to seven years’ imprisonment with effect from July 8, 2015.”
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