Gombe court jails police, immigration officers for N1.6m employment fraud
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) arraigned Bature and Philip on two count - charges of obtaining by false pretences and intent to defraud.
By Idris Temidayo
The federal high court in Gombe has sentenced two police officers and an immigration officer to seven years imprisonment each for employment fraud to the tune of N1,640,000.
T.G. Ringing, the presiding judge, convicted and sentenced the police officers — Yusuf AbdulKarim Bature, Musa Philip and Nasiru Mohammed — the immigration officer on Tuesday.
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) arraigned Bature and Philip on two count – charges of obtaining by false pretences and intent to defraud.
The commission arraigned Mohammed on one- count charge of obtaining by false pretences.
A statement by Dele Oyewale, spokesperson of the EFCC, said count one of the charges against Yusuf AbdulKarim Bature and Musa Philip reads : “That you Yusuf Abdul karim.Bature and Musa Philip while being public officers with the Nigerian Police Force sometime in 2022 in Gombe within the Gombe Judicial division at the Federal High Court of Justice did with intent to defraud falsely obtained from one Asabe Hamed the total sum of Nine Hundred and Seventy Thousand Naira for the purpose of securing a job, a claim you knew to be false”.
“The charge against Nasiru Mohammed reads: “that you Nasiru Mohammed sometime in 2022 in Gombe within the jurisdiction of this honourable court while being a staff of the Nigerian Immigration Service did falsely obtained the sum of Six Hundred and Seventy Thousand naira ( N670,000) from Abdul Rahman Abubakar and Akwalo Adamu under the false pretence of securing them a job with the Nigerian Immigration service which you knew to be false and thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 1(1)(a) of the Advance Fee Fraud and Other Fraud Related Offences Act 2006 and punishable under Section 1(3) of the same Act”
The statement said the defendants pleaded guilty to their respective charges.
Tortema Joshua, the prosecution counsel prayed the court to convict and sentence the defendants accordingly.
But counsels to the defendants, Babangida Mohammed and K.K. Jomoh pleaded with the court to temper justice with mercy as the defendants were first -time offenders, who are remorseful of their actions.
The presiding judge convicted and sentenced Bature, Philip and Mohammed to seven years imprisonment each or a fine of N50,000 each.
In addition, the judge ordered the convicts to pay restitution of N1,640,000 to the petitioners and sign an undertaking to be of good behaviour henceforth.
The convicts’ journey to the correctional centre began sometime on February 8, 2024, when some petitioners alleged that Bature and Philip collected N970,000 while Mohammed collected N670,000 as payment for employment slots. The convicts neither offered the petitioners the jobs nor returned their money to them.
