Justice Sanusi Ado Maaji of the Kano State High Court has convicted and sentenced Ado Abubakar Fulani to seven years imprisonment for obtaining money by false pretense.
The convict has induced a victim, Ibrahim Balanti, to make payment into his account by promising to get him enlisted into the Nigeria Customs Service. He also claimed that he had a customs officer friend by name, ACG Ahmad Jibrin, who was purportedly given slots to fill at the Service.
When the complainant showed interest, the convict asked him to pay the sum of N530, 000. The complainant subsequently paid the sum of N330, 000. in the hope of securing the appointment.
When the job offer was not forthcoming, he realized that he had been duped and demanded a refund of his money to no avail.
The charge against the convict reads in part, “That you Ado Abubakar Fulani sometimes in January, 2021 at Kano with intent to defraud did obtain the sum of N330,000.00 from Muhammad Balanti Adam, which money you caused to be paid into your First City Monument Bank account number 6491929010 under the false pretence that you will secure an offer of appointment for him with the Nigeria Customs Service 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.”
When the one-count charge was read to Fulani, he pleaded guilty to the offence.
In view of his guilty plea, the prosecuting EFCC lawyer, Salihu Sani asked the court to convict him accordingly.
Justice Maaji consequently convicted and sentenced the convict to seven years imprisonment without option of fine.
The judge also ordered the convict to restitute N330, 000 to the nominal complainant.
