The Borno State High Court sitting in Maiduguri has convicted and sentenced two men, Abdullahi Suleiman and Ahmad Yahaya, over separate fraud cases involving more than N7.3 million.
Justice Aisha Ibrahim delivered the judgment on Wednesday after both defendants pleaded guilty to charges bordering on cheating and criminal misappropriation, according to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
The anti-graft agency said the offences involved a combined sum of N7,378,000 allegedly obtained from victims under false pretences.
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Suleiman was sentenced to one year imprisonment with an option of N25,000 fine after admitting to fraud involving N5 million.
Yahaya, on the other hand, received a 10-year jail term with an option of N200,000 fine over a separate N2.378 million fraud case.
According to the EFCC, Suleiman was arraigned on a one-count charge accusing him and two other suspects, identified as Ismail Luka and Ibrahim Musa, both currently at large, of conspiring to defraud one Mustapha Baraka Abubakar.
The commission alleged that the defendants collected N5 million from the victim under the guise of facilitating an exchange transaction involving United States (US) dollars but failed to deliver the foreign currency.
Part of the charge stated that the suspects induced the complainant to part with the money “under the guise that the said amount represent payment for an exchange with United State of American Dollar which you are yet to deliver.”
The offence was said to contravene Sections 59(b) and 60(2) of the Penal Code Law of Borno State, 2023.
In Yahaya’s case, the EFCC said he fraudulently obtained N2,378,000 from one Abba Goni Hassan after presenting himself as the Chief Executive Officer of Siliki Millennium Oil, a company reportedly registered in Nigeria.
The commission alleged that Yahaya convinced the complainant to transfer the money for the supply of flour, foodstuffs, and other related items to markets and stores, but allegedly diverted the funds for personal use.
The charge against him stated that he dishonestly induced the victim to pay the money through a Union Bank account “under the guise that the said amount represented payment for a supply of food stuff, flour and other food related items, to individuals, markets and stores, which you are yet to deliver.”
The prosecution counsel, Mukhtar Ali Ahmed, urged the court to convict the defendants after they both pleaded guilty to the charges.
Justice Ibrahim subsequently convicted and sentenced the two men accordingly.
The EFCC said Suleiman’s “journey to the Correctional Centre” began after he diverted funds meant for a dollar exchange transaction, while Yahaya was prosecuted for allegedly converting money intended for food supply contracts to personal use.
The convictions form part of ongoing anti-corruption prosecutions by the EFCC targeting fraud and financial crimes across the country.
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