Daud Olatunji
Dubious individual Bukar Muhammad from Borno has been handed a one-year prison sentence by the Borno State High Court in Maiduguri for swindling a staggering N43.3 million from a victim.
This decision was reached by Justice Aisha Kumaliya after the Maiduguri Zonal Command of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) arraigned him on charges of obtaining money by false pretence and criminal breach of trust.
The case began when the EFCC received a petition from Alhaji Ali Mohammed, who accused Bukar Muhammad of converting the entrusted sum to his own use.
Initially arraigned on September 7, 2021, on a one-count charge related to false pretence, the defendant was later re-arraigned for criminal breach of trust in the amount of N43,328,000.
The verdict, as stated by the court, reads: “That you, Bukar Mohammed sometime in 2018 at Maiduguri, Borno State within the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court fraudulently induced one Alhaji Ali Mohammed to deliver to you monies in Euros and Naira to the equivalent sum of Forty-three Million, Three Hundred and Twenty-eight Thousand Naira (N43,328,000.00) only under the false pretence of collecting same for safekeeping which facts you knew to be false and thereby committed an offence contrary to and punishable under sections 1(1)(b) and 1(3) of the Advance Fee Fraud and Other Fraud Related Offences Act, 2006 respectively.”
Despite pleading ‘not guilty,’ the defendant was found guilty by Justice Kumaliya, who imposed a fine of N200,000 or one-year imprisonment.
Additionally, the court ordered the convict to pay a balance of N13,234,100 to his victim or face an additional seven years in prison.
In a separate case, Musa Bello faced justice as well, receiving a one-year prison sentence from Justice Umaru Fadawu of the Borno State High Court in Maiduguri.
Musa Bello was convicted on a one-count charge related to cheating in the amount of N1,300,000.
He was found guilty of dishonestly inducing individuals under the guise of facilitating food distribution items from a Non-Governmental Organization, Save the Children.
With the defendant pleading ‘guilty’ to the charge, the court, upon the prosecution’s recommendation, convicted and sentenced Musa Bello to one-year imprisonment with an option of N200,000
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