A Borno State High Court, sitting in Maiduguri has convicted and sentenced Aisha Alkali Wakil aka Mama Boko Haram and two others to five years imprisonment over N71.4 million fraud.
The spokesman of the Economic and Financial Crime Commission (EFCC), Wilson Uwujaren, in a statement, said the Maiduguri Zonal Command of the anti-graft body secured the conviction against Mama Boko Haram alongside Prince Lawal Shoyode and Tahiru Saidu Daura.
He said the defendants were sentenced to five years imprisonment on Tuesday without an option of fine by Justice Aisha Kumaliya of the Borno State High Court.
The statement read: “The judgment was the climax of a process that commenced on Monday, September 14, 2020 when the defendants were re-arraigned on a two count charge of conspiracy and obtaining money by false pretence to the tune of N71,400,000 (Seventy-One Million, Four Hundred Thousand Naira) only.”
It would be recalled that during the re-arraignment by the anti-graft agency, the defendants had pleaded not guilty to the charges.
Count one of the charge reads: “That you, Aisha Alkali Wakil, Tahiru Saidu Daura and Prince Lawal Shoyode, whilst being chief executive officer, programme manager and country director respectively of Complete Care and Aid Foundation (a non-governmental organisation), sometime in the year 2018 at Maiduguri, Borno state, within the jurisdiction of this honourable court with intent to defraud, induced one Saleh Ahmed Said of Shuad General Enterprises Ltd to deliver to you 3,000 bags of beans worth N71,400,000 under the false pretence of executing a contract for the supply of same, which you made the said Saleh Ahmed Said to believe that you had the capacity to pay the entire contract sum upon execution, which you knew to be false and you 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.”
During the trial, Mukhtar Ahmed, prosecution counsel, presented four witnesses and tendered several documents which were admitted as exhibits.
In her ruling on Tuesday, the presiding judge, Justice Aisha Kumaliya, held that the prosecution proved the case against the defendant beyond reasonable doubt.
Upon conviction, the judge sentenced the defendants to five years imprisonment without an option of fine.
Furthermore, she ordered the convicts to pay the sum of N30,500,000 as compensation to the victim.
Should they default in paying the fine, the judge said the convicts would serve an additional 10-year jail term.
