Justice Nathaniel Ayo-Emmanuel of the Federal High Court in Osogbo, Osun State, on Tuesday, sentenced five men tried for cyber-stalking and defrauding ex-Speaker of Osun State House of Assembly, Timothy Owoeye, of a sum of N38m.
Sometime in 2018, a 13-second nude video of Owoeye had gone viral on the Internet.
In the video, Owoeye was accosted by some people, who accused him of coming to their community to perform a ritual.
The Osun State Police Command arrested those in the video, who were alleged to have used the clip to obtain around N38m from Owoeye before the clip was reportedly released on the Internet.
The convicts, Kazeem Agbabiaka, Rasheed Ojonla, Babatunde Oluajo, Adebiyi Kehinde, Femi Oseni, and Oyebanji Oyeniyi, were arraigned before the court on October 19, 2018, on five counts bordering on conspiracy; advance free fraud and cyber-stalking.
Delivering judgment on the case, Justice Ayo-Emmanuel said the convicts operated like a web syndicate, subjecting their victims to hardship and so, they deserved no leniency.
He subsequently passed a guilty verdict on them and sentenced Agbabiaka, Oyeniyi, Ojonla and Oluajo to five years imprisonment for conspiracy and advance-free fraud.
The judge, however, discharged and acquitted Ismaila Azeez, on the count bordering on cyberstalking, but found Oseni guilty of the same charge and sentenced him to five years imprisonment.
Quadri Olaitan is a journalist and contributor to Freelanews.com, covering news, public affairs, and human-interest stories.
