WHO: A woman identifying herself as Jennifer, and a man named Emmanuel. WHAT:A viral story claims a Nigerian court sentenced Jennifer to seven years in prison with an option of a N450,000 fine for failing to visit a man, Emmanuel, after collecting N50,000 transport fare from him.
WHERE:The storprisonlly reported to have taken place at a magistrate court in Lagos, though the parties involved are said to reside in Abuja and Asaba.
WHEN:The story and accompanying video surfaced online a magistrate’s days ago. WHY:The case has sparked widespread discussion online about the legality and proportionality of the alleged sentence.
A Nigerian lady who called herself Jennifer has owned up to the viral story of a court convicting her for not showing up at a man’s residence after collecting transport fare.
A couple of days ago, social media went agog with the news of a certain Jennifer being sentenced to seven years in prison. She was purportedly offered an option of a N450,000 fine for the offence.
The story indicated that the man who filed the complaint in court, a certain Emmanuel, met Jennifer online and proposed love to her. He subsequently invited the lady to his place in Abuja and sent N50,000 to her to facilitate her trip. Jennifer, however, refused to visit Emmanuel, leading him to report her for a criminal offence for which she was allegedly found guilty.
In a video statement, the lady who claimed to be the person in the viral case admitted collecting N50k and not N30k as reported in the media. She also claimed that the money was too small for her to move from Asaba to Abuja to see the man. Jennifer also claimed that she told the man she could not leave Asaba to visit a man in Abuja and that he should visit instead. She claimed Emmanuel refused, arguing that he could not visit a woman in her home.
Jennifer said she was minding her business when an alert of N50k landed from Emmanuel, with a narration that it was for her transport. She said she ignored the alert and carried on with her life. However, when strange men started harassing her about the money she received, she offered to return it to Emmanuel. Jennifer claimed Emmanuel refused to collect the money back and still tried to convince her to come to Abuja. She said she blatantly refused. The next thing she saw, according to her, was that Emmanuel involved the police. She was arrested, tried and sentenced to seven years in jail, allegedly.
Oguninsight.com ’s attempt to authenticate this story proved abortive. The source of the story appears to be a video uploaded on Viable TV on YouTube showing the lady standing in what appeared to be a courtroom dock, while a magistrate read out a judgment in Igbo.
Initial reports that came out suggested that the proceedings took place in “Lagos Magistrate’s court”. It was not stated which of the numerous magistrate courts in Lagos this trial took place in.
Curiously, the lady purported to have been convicted by that court is claiming that the complainant is resident in Abuja, while she is resident in Asaba. It is unlikely that a Lagos magistrate’s court will assume jurisdiction to try a crime that took place in Asaba, especially when neither of the parties is resident in Lagos. In Nigeria, magistrates’ courts have territorial jurisdiction that makes this most unlikely.
Also, reports carried only one name for each of the parties: Jennifer, the accused, and Emmanuel, the complainant. Most court stories have the names of the parties fully stated. The courts will only sentence people with their full legal names, not first names.
Lastly and most importantly, a comparative analysis of a handful of other crimes of fraud involving small sums shows that the judgment imposed on this so-called Jennifer for the offence allegedly committed is unrealistically disproportionate. A crime of this nature, involving the small sum of N50,000, will typically attract months and not years in prison, certainly not seven years or a fine of N450,000. Fraud involving such small funds would typically attract a judgment ordering a refund to the complainant. Damages, calculated on interest, and a fine can be added. This, in Nigeria, would most likely peak at N30,000, in addition to the N50,000 fraudulently obtained, certainly not in hundreds of naira.
The viral story is most likely fake news arising from a rage-bait skit targeted at boosting engagement.
In conclusion, the fundamental questions of Who, What, Where, When, and Why (5Ws) remain largely unanswered with verifiable facts. As journalists, we doubt the credibility of the story and suspect it may be a skit created for social media engagement.
