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Justice Nathaniel Ayo-Emmanuel of a Federal High Court, Ibadan, on Thursday sentenced one Bayo Mafo to three years’ imprisonment for impersonating a customs officer and obtaining money under false pretense. Ayo-Emmanuel said that he convicted and sentenced Mafo based on an overwhelming evidence against him. I am convinced that prosecution has proved beyond reasonable doubt that the defendant committed the offences levelled against him because he is unable to justify his actions. Therefore, to serve as warning to others who think they can continue to reap where they did not sow, the defendant is hereby sentenced to one and half years’ imprisonment for each of the two offences. The sentences are, however, to run concurrently, the judge said.
         Earlier, counsel to the Nigeria Customs Board, Oyo/Osun Command, Mr Musa Onimisi, said that Mafo committed the crimes in 2017 in Ibadan and in Ondo State. According to him, Mafo has some customs kits with which he presents himself as an Assistant Superintendent of Customs to obtain various sums of money from unsuspecting Nigerians. He said that Mafo fraudulently obtained N1,057,000 from a teacher, Mrs Florence Akolawole; N380,000 from a trader, Alhaja Omolola Hassan, and N500,000 from a corps member, Miss Victoria Akande. The counsel said that Mafo promised to supply Akolawole with two cars, supply Hassan with 50 bags of rice, and secure employment with the Nigeria Customs Service for Akande. He said that the convict absconded after defrauding his victims. In his defence, Mafo had claimed that Akolawole had been his concubine and Akande’s mother, his friend’s mistress. It was reported that all the lawyers engaged by the convict withdrew their services because he could not pay them.