Sentenced to 10 years in prison for an N40 million fraud were Aisha Alkali Wakil, better known as Mama Boko Haram, Tahiru Saidu Daura, and Prince Lawal Soyade.
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According to EFCC spokesperson Dele Oyewale, the three of Wakil, Daura, and Soyade were found guilty on Monday by Justice Umaru Fadawu of the Borno State High Court in Maiduguri. The trio had been charged by the commission with two charges of conspiracy and collecting forty million naira via false pretence.
Saidu Mukhtar, who is currently at large, and Wakil, who are the CEO, Programme Manager, and Country Director of the non-governmental organization Complete Care and Aid Foundation, respectively, stole N40 million from Bashir Abubakar, the CEO of Duty-Free Shop Ltd, by executing a fake contract for the supply of five solar-powered x-ray machines, according to the EFCC spokesman.
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The act was punishable under Section 1(3) of the Advance Fee Fraud and Other Fraud Related Offences Act, 2006, and Oyewale asserted that it was in violation of Section 1(b) of the same Act.
The accused entered “not guilty” pleas upon hearing the accusations.
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The case was brought before the court by A.I. Arogha, the prosecutor, who produced four witnesses and seventeen evidence.
They were found guilty of conspiracy and given a 10-year prison sentence by Justice Fadawu. Additionally, the court ordered the defendants to pay N40 million to Bashir Muhammad jointly and severally and sentenced them to 10 years in prison for the charge of acquiring by false pretence.
Prison sentences must run consecutively, per the judge’s direction.
According to Oyewale’s statement, the inmates’ transfer to the prison started when a petitioner claimed they deceived him by offering to supply five 1900 x-ray machines powered by solar energy to a non-profit called Complete Care and Aid Foundation, for a sum of forty million Nigerian naira. They failed to return the agreed-upon amount to the petitioner and failed to provide the machines.