A Kwara High Court has sentenced a University of Ilorin student Udoh Okon to one year in prison for defrauding an American citizen.

His offence bordered on a lottery scam.

The Ilorin Zonal Office of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) secured the conviction.

The presiding judge, Sikiru Oyinloye, found the defendant guilty of the offence, following his plea bargain.

“I have carefully considered the facts and circumstances of this case, especially the lone count charge, the plea of guilt by the defendant, and the unchallenged evidence of the prosecution,” said Mr Oyinloye. “It is the opinion of this honourable court that the defendant is guilty as charged.”

The judge, however, gave the convict a N200,000 option of fine.

He ordered the forfeiture of a N206,000 bank draft, raised as restitution by the convict, and the iPhone he used in perpetrating the crime to the federal government.

Prosecuting counsel Sesan Ola told the court that Mr Udoh, a 300-level UNILORIN student, had defrauded the American citizen in a lottery scam.

The one-count charge against him stated: “That you, Udoh Sunday Okon also known as Christopher Wray, sometime in March cheated by impersonation, when you pretended to be one Christopher Wray, a white male, with +18315088635 as your WhatsApp business line.”

It added, “You fraudulently deceived Kimberly, an American, to send $500 worth of eBay gift card to you, after you made him believe that he won $1,000,000 Facebook Lottery. You thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 321 of the Penal Code and punishable under Section 324 of the same law.”

Following his plea, the prosecutor urged the court to convict the defendant and sentence him based on his plea and the evidence tendered before the court.