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 ( Six Hundred and Eighty- Two Thousand Eight Hundred and Forty-Seven Naira only) under false pretences . He also sentenced Mohammed Sala Soja to six years imprisonment. All the three convicts were jailed for employment fraud.
Abdullahi and Usman were separately arraigned on three count charges of cheating and employment scam by the Gombe Zonal Command of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC.
The charge against Ibrahim Abdullahi reads: “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(Six hundred and Eighty Two Thousand, Eighty Hundred and Forty Seven Naira only) 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 “.
The charge reads “that you, umar Usman 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 Sadu 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 (Six Hundred and Eighty Two Thousand, Eighty Hundred and Forty Seven Naira only) without their consent and there by 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( Fifty Thousand Naira only) and Usman bagged two years imprisonment or a fine of N50,000.
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 each 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 . 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. All efforts to distance themselves from the loan proved abortive and reported the case to the EFCC/
In a similar development on Monday, Justice Kereng also convicted and sentenced one
Soja to six months imprisonment. He was arraigned on three count charges of intent to defraud , cheating and employment scam by the Gombe Zonal Command of the Economic and financial Crimes Commission , EFCC
One of the charge reads “that you, Muhammed Sala Soja sometimes in July 2023, at Gombe, Gombe State within the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court, with intent to defraud did make a false document titled “2023 recruitment invitation for marshal’s basic course” which knew to be false and thereby committed an offense contrary to section 362 of the Penal Code Law and punishable under Section 364 of the same Law. “
Upon arraignment, he pleaded guilty to the charges, prompting the prosecution counsel, AB Kware to pray the court to convict and sentence him accordingly. However, counsel to the defendant, I.S Gada pleaded with the court to temper justice with mercy “as the defendant who was remorseful for his actions is the breadwinner of his family and has a medically challenged father to care for”.
Justice Kereng then asked Kware if the defendant was a first time- offender and the prosecution counsel responded that though the defendant had made restitution to the victim of crime, he was convicted by same court on February 14 2024 for a similar offence”.
Responding, the judge said, “ based on the plea of the defence counsel coupled with the fact that the defendant has restituted the victim of crime and his father’s medical condition , I will give him a second chance. The defendant is hereby convicted and sentenced to six years imprisonment with an option of fine of N150,000
Soja still has other pending cases with the EFCC .