Man Sentenced To 5-Year Imprisonment Over Student’s Visa Scam

An Igbosere Magistrates’ Court, Lagos on Tuesday sentenced a 33-year-old man, Sunday Nyah, to five years in the correctional centre over N2.5 million student’s visa scam.

She sentenced the convict after finding him guilty of a three-count charge of conspiracy, fraud and stealing.

Botoku found the convict guilty on all the counts and sentenced him to two years on count one; three years on counts two and five years on count three.

The Magistrate, Mrs Folashade Botoku, however, gave the convict the option to either pay N900,000 to the victim as restitution or stay in prison for the period of five years.

The magistrate, however, said that the sentence would run concurrently.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the court gave its verdict after five years of trial in which the prosecution called three witnesses and the defence, one witness.

The convict was first arraigned on Aug. 5, 2015, and was granted bail having pleaded not guilty to the charges.

The Prosecutor Sgt. Chinedu Njoku, had told the court that Nyah and others at large committed the offences on Nov. 11, 2014, at No. 16, Church St., Oworonshoki, Lagos.

He said that Nyah fraudulently obtained the sum of N2.5 million from Ekaete Achibong under the guise of securing a student visa and admission for her daughter in France.

Njoku said that Nyah neither secured the visa nor refunded the money.

He said that the offences contravened Sections 285, 313 and 407 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State, 2011.

Source:(NAN)