Justice Bello Duwale of the Sokoto State High Court, Sokoto, on Monday, July 13, 2020 convicted and sentenced one Ahmed Abdullahi to one year imprisonment for N190,000.00 (One Hundred and Ninety Thousand Naira) fraud.
The convict was prosecuted by the Sokoto Zonal Office of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, on four-count amended charges, bordering on cheating to which he pleaded guilty.
The offence contravenes Section 310 of the Sokoto State Penal Code Law and punishable under Section 311 of the same law.
Count One of the charge read: “That you Ahmed Abdullahi sometime in June 2019 in Sokoto, within the Judicial Division of the High Court of Justice of Sokoto State with intent to defraud, dishonestly obtained the total sum of N85,000.00 (Eighty Five Thousand Naira) from Salim Yusha’u of Sokoto State University when you falsely represented yourself to him that you are a staff of Universal Service Programme Funds (USPF), a subsidiary of the National Communication Commission (NCC) and that the institution has been nominated by Universal Service Programme Funds (USPF) for the provision of ICT tools and services to enhance E- Learning, a representation you knew to be false and thereby committed an offence of cheating, contrary to Section 310 of the Sokoto State Penal Code Law 2019 and punishable under Section 311 of the same Law.”
Abdullahi’s guilty plea prompted prosecution counsel, Habila Jonathan to urge the court to convict and sentence him accordingly, while the defence counsel, Y. Y Gwazawa, pleaded with the court to temper justice with mercy, especially as the convict has fully restituted his victim and shown remorse.
Though Justice Duwale convicted and sentenced him to year prison term on each of the four counts, they are to run concurrently. He also gave him an option of paying N20,000 (Twenty Thousand Naira) fine.