Justice Aisha Kumaliya of the Borno State High Court in Maiduguri on Wednesday, June 25, convicted and sentenced Aisha Alkali Wakil, popularly known as Mama Boko Haram, along with Tahiru Saidu Daura and Prince Lawal Shoyode, to 14 years imprisonment each for conspiracy and obtaining money by false pretence.
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) confirmed the development in an official statement signed by its spokesperson, Dele Oyewale.
The trio was arraigned on September 14, 2020, by the EFCC’s Maiduguri Zonal Directorate on a two-count charge involving ₦11 million, stemming from a fraudulent contract claim.
According to the EFCC, “The defendants obtained the sum of ₦11 million from one Muhammed Ambare under the false pretence of executing a purported contract for the supply, installation, and servicing of two units of X-Ray Machine Model 1800, which they knew to be false.”
One of the counts reads:
“That you, Aisha Alkali Wakil, Tahiru Saidu Daura, Prince Lawal Shoyode whilst being Chief Executive Officer, Programme Manager, and Country Director respectively of Complete Care and Aids Foundation (Non-Governmental Organisation) and Saidu Mukhtar (now at large) sometime in July 2018 at Maiduguri… with intent to defraud, obtained the sum of ₦11 million from one Muhammed Ambare… under false pretence…”
The offence contravenes Section 1(1)(b) of the Advance Fee Fraud and Other Fraud Related Offences Act, 2006, and is punishable under Section 1(3) of the same Act.
Although the accused pleaded not guilty, the court, after a full trial, found them culpable. EFCC prosecutors, Mukhtar Ali Ahmed and S.O. Saka, presented multiple documents and a witness to establish the case.
Justice Kumaliya sentenced each of the defendants to seven years on each of the two counts, to run concurrently. She also ordered them to jointly refund ₦8 million to the complainant, or serve an additional seven-year jail term.
“The convicts induced the petitioner to pay ₦11 million into a third-party account,” the EFCC noted. “No contract was executed, and the funds were never returned.”
One of the individuals involved in the transaction, Saidu Mukhtar, remains at large.
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