The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, Kaduna Zonal Command, on Wednesday, March 16, 2022, arraigned one Muhammad Lawal before Justice Abdulkarim Mahmud of the Kaduna State High Court sitting in Zaria, on one- count charge bordering on criminal misappropriation to the tune of N1, 770, 000.00( One Million, Seven Hundred and Seventy Thousand Naira only).
The charge reads, “That you, Muhammad Lawal sometime in March, 2020 in Zaria, within the Judicial Division of this Honourable Court, while acting as an agent of Adamu Magaji dishonestly misappropriated a total sum of N1,770,000 (One Million, Seven Hundred and Seventy Thousand Naira only ) given to you by one Buhari Abubakar as a payment for the purchase of a farmland situate at Laluko near Gibeon Children School Maje Road, Sabon Gari, Zaria to deliver same to the said Adamu Magaji and you thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 293 of the Kaduna State Penal Code Law, 2017 and punishable under Section 294 of the same Law”.
Prosecution counsel, Maryam Lawal prayed the court to give a date for the commencement of trial and remand the defendant in a Correctional Centre, while the defence counsel, Ibrahim Lawal, urged the court to grant the defendant bail.
Justice Mahmud, adjourned the case till March 21, 2022, for hearing of bail application and remanded the defendant in the custody of the Nigeria Correctional Service
Laval got into trouble when a petitioner alleged that sometime in 2020, he bought a plot of land belonging to one Adamu Magaji Zaria from him in the sum of One Million, Seven Hundred and Seventy Thousand Naira (N1, 770, 000.00) but could not take ownership of the property while the defendant diverted the said sum to his personal use.