Justice Maryam Muhammad Sifawa of the Sokoto State High Court, sitting in Sokoto has convicted and sentenced Isiyaku Umar Yusuf to one year imprisonment for impersonation.

He was jailed on Tuesday, January 24, 2023 after pleading guilty to two- count charges bordering on impersonation, forgery and obtaining money by false pretence.

Count one reads: “That you, Isiyaku Umar Yusuf (Male), sometime in December 2022 in Sokoto within the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court impersonated Hajiya Fatima Jikan-Danuwa on your WhatsApp account with intent to gain advantage for yourself and thereby committed an offence of impersonation contrary to and punishable under Section 144(1) of the Sokoto State Penal Code Law, 2019”.

The defendant pleaded guilty to both counts of the charge.

In view of his guilty plea, EFCC counsel, Uduak Kufre Ekpeyong prayed the court to convict and sentence him accordingly.

Justice Sifawa thereafter convicted and sentenced Yusuf to one year imprisonment.

The convict’s journey to the Correctional Centre began when he impersonated one Fatima Bature Jikan Dan Uwa, founder and Chief Executive Officer, of a non-governmental organisation, “Youth Against Drug Abuse”, through a forged WhatsApp page to defraud unsuspecting members of the public.

Yusuf opened the WhatsApp page in the name of Fatima Bature Jikan Dan Uwa and her picture, and began soliciting for medical assistance for a purported cancer patient due for surgery at Federal Medical Centre, Nguru, Yobe State, and attached his bank account details for receiving donations without the knowledge and consent of Uwa.