Eric Patrick
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, Port Harcourt Zonal Directorate, on Thursday, arraigned one Ifeoma Joe and her 34-year-old son, Chima Mike Nmerem, before Justice P. I . Ajoku of the Federal High Court in Port Harcourt for fraud.
The suspects are being prosecuted on a four-count charge bordering on conspiracy, misrepresentation, advance fee fraud and obtaining money under false pretence to the tune of N64.4m.
This was contained in a statement by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission on Friday.
The count charge read, “That you Ifeoma Joe between the 10th day of September 2024 to the 17th day of December 2024 at Oyigbo Rivers State within the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court with intent to defraud, obtained the aggregate sum of (N64, 486, 180) only, from Mrs. Felicia Ekwutasi Ikeh; which money was paid into account No:0024475760 domiciled with Access Bank Plc and operated by Chima Mike Nmerem, under the pretence that the sum was requested by one Dr. Uma Ukpai for spiritual cleansing and settlement of detectives in a murder case in the United States of America which pretence you knew to be false and thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 1(1) (c) of the Advance Fee Fraud and Other Related Offences Act, 2006 and punishable under Section 1 (3) of the same Act.”
They pleaded guilty when the charges were read to them, following which prosecution counsel K. U. Udus called for a review of the case and informed the court of the presence of a prosecution witness who was ready to testify, but Justice Ajoku for want of time adjourned the matter till May 28, 2025 for the review of facts of the case and ordered that the defendants be remanded in custody of the EFCC.
The defendants case with the EFCC began when a US-based petitioner alleged that she was introduced to the first defendant, Joe by her sister for spiritual prayers that would prevent her son who murdered his sibling in a fight from going to jail and for the homicide case against him to be dismissed.
The petitioner alleged that Joe was contracted following her claim that she has a close relationship with Evangelist Uma Ukpai, a renowned Christian preacher, and further deceived her with a fake phone number of the man of God which the defendant herself allegedly answered and offered prayers for her with a pretended voice of a man of God whenever she calls the numbers.
After some alleged deceitful prayers, the first defendant, still pretending to be the man of God, demanded the sum of N900,000.00, which he would deposit at the altar. The petitioner allegedly provided the amount.
According to the Commission, the defendant also deceived the victim into paying some amount of money running into millions for purported spiritual cleansing, donations to orphanages and spiritual settlements of detectives and prosecutors handling her son’s murder case, and cash gifts to her surviving son’s employer, so that he would be reinstated in his place of work after the alleged spiritual interventions would have caused the murder case against him to be dismissed.
The victim also reported that she paid a naira equivalent of the sum of $38,450 into the account of the first defendant.
By the time the petitioner allegedly realized that all was a scam, she disclosed that she had already transferred a total sum of N64,486,180 to the first defendant via the second defendant’s bank account, domiciled in Access Bank, made available by the first defendant.
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The EFCC stated that all efforts by the petitioner to recover her money were to no avail.
In another development, Justice E. A. Obile of the Federal High Court, sitting in Port Harcourt convicted and sentenced Michael Eniola Adesina to jail for fraud.
He was prosecuted by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, Port Harcourt Zonal Directorate, on a two-count charge, bordering on money laundering, impersonation and obtaining money under false pretence to the tune of N9million (Nine Million Naira).
The count charge read, “That you, Michael Eniola Adesina, between 2023 and 2025 at Port Harcourt, Rivers State, within the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court, did directly take possession of cryptocurrency into your wallet address No.bclqeyff4su5vzgr3012q2h 5x588vzn27mhgadqd00 which you sold and converted to Naira, accumulating into an aggregate sum of about N9, 000, 000.00 only paid into your Moniepoint Microfinance Bank Account No. 5711818819 over a period of time in bits which you knew or reasonably ought to have known are proceeds of your fraud or form part of proceeds of an unlawful act and thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 18(2)(d) of the Money Laundering Prevention and Prohibition Act, 2022 and punishable under Section 18(3) of the same Act.”
He pleaded guilty when the charges were read to him, following which prosecution counsel E. Erebanmen reviewed the facts of the case, called a witness, Adejoh Mohammed, an officer of the EFCC through whom he tendered some incriminating documents in evidence, and urged the court to convict and sentence Adesina accordingly.
The defence counsel, Famous Bigha on his part prayed the court to temper justice with mercy, stating that his client is a first -time offender with no previous criminal records.
Justice Obile convicted and sentenced him to five months in prison or to pay a N400,000.00 fine.
In addition, he forfeited his Toyota Camry car, being the proceeds of his crime and iPhone 14 Pro and an Infinix Hot 50i, being the tools of his crime to the federal government.
Furthermore, he was deposed to an affidavit of good behaviour before the court.
