Justice J.A Kereng of the Gombe State High Court sitting in Gombe, on Monday, April 8, 2024 convicted and sentenced the duo of Ibrahim Abdullahi and Umar Usman to various jail terms for obtaining the sum of N682,847.00 under false pretences.
The judge also sentenced Mohammed Soja to six years imprisonment.
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) in a statement issued Wednesday said all the three convicts were jailed for employment fraud.
TheHintsNews reports that the convicts bagged their imprisonment when they allegedly approached their victims in October 2022 about some phony job opportunities in a private liability company in Gombe State.
They directed their victims to open an account with Polaris Bank which they did and surrendered the account details as well as their ATM Cards to them.
The convicts in return gave their victims the sum of N10,000 each.
However, after a while, the victims had issues with Polaris Bank’s transactions and went to the bank to make enquiries only to be confronted with an outstanding loan of N682,847.00.
All efforts to distance themselves from the loan proved abortive and reported the case to the EFCC.
It was based on this that the anti-graft arraigned Abdullahi and Usman separately on three-counts charges of cheating and employment scam by the Gombe Zonal Command of the agency.
The charges against Abdullahi and Usman read: “That you, Ibrahim Abdullahi sometimes in October 2020 and January 2021 in Gombe, Gombe State within the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court, obtained the Polaris ATM Card properties of Aminu Adamu Idris and Muhammed Saidu Jibril, which you claimed was documentation for offer of employment you secured for them in a private liability company at Gombe, but rather used the said ATM to obtain loan to the tune of N682,847 without their consent and thereby committed an offense contrary to Section 320 of the Penal Code Law and punishable under Section 322 of the same Law “.
Upon arraignment, the defendants pleaded guilty to their respective charges when they were read to them.
In view of the defendants’ pleas, prosecuting counsel, A.B Kware prayed the court to convict and sentence them accordingly.
However, counsel to the defendants, R.A. Anthony pleaded with the court to temper justice with mercy “as the defendants are first-time offenders who are remorseful for their actions”.
Justice Kereng convicted and sentenced Abdulahi to one-year imprisonment with an option of fine of N50,000 and Usman bagged two years imprisonment or a fine of N50,000.
In a similar development on Monday, Justice Kereng also convicted and sentenced one
Soja to six months imprisonment. He was arraigned on three counts charges of intent to defraud, cheating and employment scam by the Gombe Zonal Command of EFCC.