Jailed couple sentenced to fresh 10 years’ imprisonment for property fraud

The Lagos State Special Offences Court in Ikeja has sentenced convicted couple, Harry Uyanwanne and Oluwakemi Odia, also known as Kristein Uyanwanne, to at least 10 years’ imprisonment each for fraud involving N67.6 million.

Trial judge Mojisola Dada delivered the judgement on Monday and ordered the defendants to refund the to the petitioner, Olusola Odemuyiwa.

The couple were prosecuted by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on charges of conspiracy, stealing and obtaining money by false pretence. EFCC spokesperson Dele Oyewale disclosed this in a statement on Monday.

They were discharged on a separate charge of forgery.

The charges arose from the alleged fraudulent sale of a property at No. 19, Murtala Mohammed Way, Ebute Meta, Oyingbo, Lagos, belonging to beneficiaries of the estate of the late Moshood Babatunde Odemuyiwa.

The prosecution alleged that the defendants sold the property in 2010 for N16 million, falsely claiming they had the authority of the estate’s beneficiaries to sell it.

According to the EFCC, the defendants knew they had no such authority but presented themselves as authorised to dispose of the property.

The couple pleaded not guilty to the charges. During the trial, prosecution counsel, Fadeke Giwa, called three witnesses and tendered several documents, while the defence called one witness.

In her judgement, Ms Dada held that the prosecution had proved its case beyond reasonable doubt.

She sentenced the defendants to three years’ imprisonment for conspiracy, one year for stealing and 10 years for obtaining money by false pretence, without the option of fine.

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EFCC’s statement did not disclose if the judge ordered the sentences to run concurrently or consecutively. The prison time for each of the couple will amount to 14 years, if the sentences were ordered to run consecutively, and 10 years if ordered to run concurrently.

But the statement said the judge ordered that Uyanwanne’s sentence be suspended until he is apprehended.

The conviction is not the couple’s first encounter with the court over fraud allegations. In December 2024, the same court sentenced Mr Uyanwanne to 10 years’ imprisonment and Ms Odia to six years over a separate N52 million fraud involving the sale of a property in Magodo, Lagos. The sentences were ordered to run concurrently.

In that case, the court also ordered the closure and deregistration of Temple International Church, which was a co-defendant, and directed the couple to pay N31 million in restitution to the complainant.