An Abuja Chief Magistrates’ court in Karu, has sentenced one Christian Nwaiwu, 32, to six months in prison for defrauding his social media friend of N100,000.
Chief Magistrate Hadiza Dodo, handed down the sentence after Nwaiwu had pleaded guilty to a three-count charge of cheating, impersonation and forgery preferred against him by the police.
Dodo, however, gave him an option of N10,000 as fine on the three charges.
Earlier, the prosecutor, Insp. Albert Okara, identified the victim as Kingsley Onyebunie.
Okara told the court that both men established contact and built a strong relationship on social media before they physically met in New Nyanya, Nasarawa State.
He said that the accused, who was unemployed, posed as a medical doctor at the National Hospital, Abuja, and presented his victim with fake documents to back up his claim.
He listed the documents as forged results of the University of Port Harcourt, NYSC discharge certificate as well as a fake license of the Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria.
According to him, Onyebunie have no reason to doubt the authenticity of the documents because they appeared real.
“The accused, who claimed to be highly connected, offered to assist his victim secure employment in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs at a price.
“Onyebunie accepted the offer and agreed to pay the accused the sum of N250, 000 for the service.
“The victim made a part payment of N100,000 into the bank account of the accused with a promise to pay the balance of N150,000 when he finally got the job.
“Thereafter, the accused issued him a letter of employment into the Ministry of Foreign Affairs which was later discovered to be forged,” he said.
The prosecutor said that the offences contravened sections 325, 132 and 363 of the Penal code respectively. (NAN)
Never miss a moment! Get the stories shaping Nigeria, delivered straight to your phone. Follow Peoplesdaily Newspaper on WhatsApp for breaking news, exclusive reports, and the headlines everyone will be talking about, before anyone else.
