Justice Jane Inyang of the Federal High Court sitting in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State on Friday, May 8, 2020, convicted and sentenced one Muhammad Halim Ogbobio, a self-styled Coordinator of Bayelsa State Muslim Pilgrims Welfare Board, to 28 years imprisonment.

The convict, who allegedly paraded himself as the coordinator of the Muslim Pigrims Welfare Board from 2009 to 2012, was arraigned by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Port Harcourt Zonal Office, on March 19, 2015 on a five count charge bordering on forgery and obtaining money by false pretense to the tune of Twelve Million One Hundred and Thirty Naira (N12,130,000.00) in bogus hajj fees.

The victims were allegedly introduced to the convict by one Adodo Yusuf Oritsegbubemi and they paid him a total of Twelve Million One Hundred and Thirty Naira (N12,130,000.00) for slots  in the 2012 Hajj.

But they failed to make it to Saudi Arabia for the hajj exercise and all efforts to retrieve their money failed.

One of the counts reads: “That you Muhammad Halim Ogbobio and others now at large on the 3rd day of September 2012 at Yenagoa, Bayelsa State, within the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court, with intent to defraud did obtain the sum of Six Million Seven Hundred Thousand Naira (N6,700,000.00) from one Ibrahim Abdullahi Paisa, which said sum was paid into your Skye Bank account No. 1010839270 under the pretence that you are one of the Coordinators of 2012 Hajj Exercise, a pretence you knew to be false and thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 1 (1) (a) of the Advance Fee Fraud and Other Fraud Related Offences Act 2006 and punishable under 1 (3)of the same Act”.

The defendant had pleaded “not guilty” to the charges, signaling the commencement of full trial.

Delivering his judgment on May 8, Justice Inyang sentenced Ogbobio to Seven (7) years imprisonment each on counts 2, 3, 4 and 5. The sentences are to run concurrently from March 19, 2015, the date he was arraigned before the Court. He was however acquitted on count one.

Meanwhile, the Port Harcourt Zonal Office of the Economic and Financial crimes Commission (EFCC) has returned the sum of $4,040 to a Brazilian victim of internet fraud, Deborah Moreira.

Moreira, a Brazilian national living and working in Nigeria acknowledged receipt of the sum of $4,040, which was recovered on her behalf by the Port Harcourt Zonal Office of the EFCC.

The money was obtained from Moreira by Emmanuel Tope, a convicted fraudster, in a romance scam. The investigation which commenced in March 2019 not only led to the recovery of the sum, the culprit was successfully prosecuted and convicted.

The proceeds of crime was remitted into the victim’s account with Bank Itau S/A, Rua Ameirico Brasiliense, through the Central Bank of Nigeria.