Court gavel
Justice Ismail Ijelu of the Lagos State High Court sitting in Ikeja, on Tuesday, June 2, 2026, convicted and sentenced one Abdulrahman Lawal Raji to 15 years imprisonment for N26m fraud.
Raji was arraigned on November 9, 2023 by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, Lagos Zonal Directorate 1, on an amended two-count charge bordering on obtaining by false pretence.
One of the counts reads: “ABDULRAHMAN LAWAL RAJI and ABDULRAHMAN LAWAL (at large), between 20th March, 2023 and 21 March, 2023 at Lagos, within the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court, with intent to defraud, obtained a gross sum of N26,000,000 from Olaide Ibidapo by falsely representing it was the purchase price for a Toyota Hilux 2022 car, which representation you knew to be false”.
He pleaded “not guilty” to the charges preferred against him.
During the trial, the prosecution counsel, Ebuka Okongwu, called four witnesses and tendered several documents that were admitted in evidence by the court.
The defence, however, called two witnesses.
Delivering judgment, Justice Ijelu held that the prosecution proved beyond reasonable doubts the charges against the defendant and convicted him accordingly.
He was sentenced to 10 years imprisonment on count one and five years’ imprisonment on count two, with no option of a fine on either count.
The sentences are to run concurrently.
The judge also ordered the restitution of the sum of N26,000,000 to the petitioner
Raji bagged his imprisonment when he collected the sum of N26million from a petitioner for the purchase of a Toyota 2022 Hilux car. He neither delivered the car nor returned the money to the petitioner.
