The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has denied parading a seven-year-old suspect as claimed by a civil society organisation, Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA).
HURIWA had claimed on Sunday that the anti-graft commission paraded a seven-year-old boy, Victor Odeh, who was later convicted by the Kaduna State High Court, following prosecution by the agency on June 26, 2023.
The CSO described the alleged action as disconcerting, indecorous, and ill-conceived.
However, in a Monday statement, the EFCC said that the person in question was a 19-year-old undergraduate.
The statement read, “The attention of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, has been drawn to some insinuation and contrived accounts of the conviction of an internet fraudster, Victor Oche Odeh by Justice Darius Khobo of the Kaduna State High Court on July 21, 2023.
“Odeh, 19, was among five undergraduates convicted and sentenced to two years imprisonment each, after pleading guilty to one-count separate charge bordering on internet fraud.
“The other convicts are: Chidebere Stanley Opara (a.ka. Avail Hollywood), Manasseh Sefa Ephraim (aka Felicia_dannyyels), Chukwukere Obinna Paul (a.ka. Shaun Lee) and Enyogu Etim Ekpo (a.ka.a Henry Wilson, Jasdav7).
“In a press Release of the EFCC, dated July 11, 2023, the ages of all the convicts, including Odeh’s, were not stated.
“For the purpose of clarity, Odeh is 19 years old. All the false narratives being bandied about in some section of the social media that he is seven years old should be ignored. The EFCC did not “parade” the convict, and is not a court of law that rightfully convicted him.
“Facts are sacred. Information about the offence, prosecution, conviction and sentence of Odeh are in all social media platforms of the EFCC. The public is enjoined to ignore any hoopla connected to his conviction.”
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