In her judgment, Justice Ipaye held that the defendants were motivated by greed, saying, “they set out to con the victims out of their hard earn resources, I am satisfied that the convict and his brother acted together in the scam. “Considering the prevalence of the crime in the society, there is a need to send a signal to others involved in it that crime doesn’t pay, as crimes like this portray Nigeria in bad light.” She added that, “From the overwhelming evidences and testimonies before the court, it shows that it was a deliberate ploy to defraud the prospective tenants.” “The Prosecution has been able to prove its case beyond reasonable doubt and I resolve all the issues in the favour of the prosecution. ”The property is hereby forfeited to the Federal Government of Nigeria, the property should be sold and the N28 million refunded to the victims.” The Judge said that during the trial, the Prosecution called seven witnesses, who testified before the court. During the trial, one of the victims, a 69-year-old retired woman, Mrs Mariam Eboigbe, told the court that her son and his wife accompanied her to the office of the convict and deposited N250, 000, and later the balance of N150, 000. She claimed that she was told to come and collect the keys to the apartment on July 15, 2013, where she met other prospective tenants, who also wanted to collect the key for the same apartment. The EFCC counsel, Ben Ubi, told the court that he had filed an interim forfeiture of the property before a Federal High Court in Lagos, which was granted. The EFCC counsel, Ubi, had alleged, during the arraignment of the defendants, that the defendants collected various sums of money from accommodation seekers between May and December, 2013 in Lagos. Ubi said he obtained the money from the complainants under the pretense of securing accommodation for them at No 59, Oriola St, Alapere, Ketu, a Lagos suburb. He listed those swindled by the defendants to include Mrs Mariam Eboigbe, Vincent Anthony, Adebunmi Damola, Rilwan Lawal and Azeez Ogundiran, among others. Ubi said their offences contravened Sections 1(1) and 8 (a) of the Advance Fee Fraud and Other Fraud Related Offences Act of 2006.
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