Uber driver jailed three months for fraud

Justice M. A. Odegbola of the Oyo State High Court, Ibadan, on Monday, sentenced Michael Lawal, an Uber driver, to three months’ imprisonment.

Lawal was convicted after he pleaded guilty to an amended one-count bordering on obtaining money by false pretences preferred against him by the Ibadan Zonal Office of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission.

The charge reads, “That you, Michael Lawal, sometimes in the year 2020, in Ibadan, Oyo State, within the jurisdiction of this honourable court, with intent to defraud, obtained gift cards from one Trevor, a white male by falsely representing to him that you are a white female by the name Cyndy Tyler from the United States of America, which pretence you knew to be false.”

Following his plea, Justice Odegbola convicted and sentenced him to three months in prison.

The judge also ordered the convict to return $50 to his victim through the EFCC and forfeit items recovered from him to the Federal Government.