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The Borno State High Court has given a five-year sentence to Aisha Alkali Wakil, also known as Mama Boko Haram, and the other defendants in the case.
On Friday, August 12, 2022, Justice Aisha Kumaliya pronounced judgment after a trial brought by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) Maiduguri Zonal Command.
After a trial, Mama Boko Haram, Tahiru Saidu Daura, and Prince Lawal Shoyede were found guilty on all three counts of conspiracy and theft totaling ₦66 million.
Count two of the charge reads, “That you, Tahiru Saidu Daura, while being a programme manager of Complete Care and Aid Foundation, and Aisha Wakil, being the CEO of Complete Care and Aid Foundation on the 7th September, 2018, in Maiduguri within the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court, dishonestly induced Ali Tijjani, the CEO and alter ego of AMTMAT Global Ventures to deliver to you, processed maize grains (biski), valued at N51,000,000.00 (Fifty-one Million Naira) which you are yet to pay and thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 320(a) and punishable under Section 322 of the Penal Code Cap 102 Laws of Borno State.”
On September 7, 2018, while working as promoters and managers of a non-governmental organization called Complete Care and Aids Foundation, the convicted individuals induced one Ali Tijjani, and his company, AMTMAT Global Ventures, to supply ₦51 million worth of processed maize grain, also known as “biski,” for which they refused to pay. This information was disclosed in a statement released by the EFCC on Friday.
The anti-graft agency added that AMTMAT Global Ventures further expended the sum of N15m to facilitate the trip of the trio to Morocco, a cost they refused to defray.
According to the EFCC, the defendants had pleaded “not guilty” to all the charges, leading to their full trial
During the trial, the prosecution counsel, Mukhtar Ali Ahmed, presented five witnesses and tendered several exhibits before closing the prosecution’s case on September 1, 2020.
Justice Kumaliya held during the Friday judgement that the prosecution had proven the charges against the defendants and pronounced them guilty as charged.
The trio, Wakil, Daura and Shoyede, were then sentenced to seven years imprisonment for the offence of conspiracy and seven years on the count of cheating, both without option of fine.
On the second count of cheating, the Judge sentenced the convicts to seven years imprisonment each without an option of fine.
The court also ordered the defendants to pay the sum of ₦51 million to Ali Tijjani or in default serve fifteen years imprisonment, in addition to the original sentence.
In addition, the three defendants will also pay the sum of ₦3, 750,000.00 each to Ali Tijjani or in default serve five years imprisonment each.
“The sentence is to start running at the expiration of any sentence that this court or any other court had awarded the convicted persons before this judgment,” read the EFFC statement.
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