In a historic ruling that underscores Nigeria’s escalating crackdown on cyber-enabled crimes, the Federal High Court in Lagos has sentenced 32-year-old Olukeye Adeayo Olalekan to a staggering 76 years imprisonment for operating a sophisticated criminal enterprise involving child pornography distribution, cyberstalking minors, money laundering, and transnational fraud. The landmark judgment, delivered by Justice Alexander Owoeye on Thursday, follows a complex two-year legal battle that saw the case transferred between three different judges and involved unprecedented cooperation between Nigeria’s Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and international law enforcement agencies, including the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.
The convict’s digital crime spree – which spanned from 2020 to 2023 – was uncovered through a chilling international investigation that began with the murder of a 14-year-old Canadian girl, Robin Janjus, whose digital communications led authorities directly to Olalekan’s elaborate network of fake social media profiles. Forensic evidence presented in court revealed how the Lagos-based predator had masqueraded as an American woman from North Carolina across Snapchat, Instagram and Telegram to simultaneously groom underage victims for explicit content while running sophisticated romance scams that defrauded elderly victims across three continents.
Key aspects of the case:
✔ Operated one of Nigeria’s most extensive child exploitation networks ever prosecuted
✔ Case involved rare judicial reassignments between three Federal High Court judges
✔ International dimension connected to ongoing Canadian murder investigation
✔ Set new precedent for prosecuting multiple cybercrimes under combined statutes
