Court official gets eight years prison sentence for defrauding widows

Justice Umaru Fadawu of the Borno State High Court, Maiduguri, on Thursday sentenced a former court official to eight years imprisonment for defrauding 194 widows in the state.

The judge found the suspect, Ramat Mohammed, guilty on a two-count amended charge of defrauding 194 widows to the tune of N781,800.00.

However, the sentence would run concurrently.

One of the charges read:“That you, Ramat Mohammed (alias Gaddafi), sometime in December, 2018 at Maiduguri, Borno State, within the jurisdiction of this honourable court with intent to defraud obtained the gross sum of N520,000.00 only from 40women (mostly widows) of Fissabi-lillah Islamic School, under the false pretence that the entire sum represent payments for registration/eligibility for a programme by a Non-Governmental Organisation, Action Against Hunger, at Auno Town, Konduga LGA, Borno State, which payment will entitle the said women to be issued a special card for various food items 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.”

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The judge ordered Mohammed to make a restitution to the 194 widows by refunding the N781,800 to them.

She said: “The court hereby sentences you to eight years imprisonment on count one. You are hereby sentenced to eight years imprisonment on count two. The sentence would run concurrently.

“The court orders you, Ramat Mohammed (alias Gaddafi), to pay the aggregate sum of N781,800.00 to 194 women of Fissabi-lillah Islamic School or nine years in default.”

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