The Kano State High Court on Monday sentenced Ado Fulani to seven years imprisonment after finding him guilty of obtaining by false pretence.
Fulani was accused of inducing Ibrahim Balanti to pay money into his account to get him enlisted into the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS).
He was said to have claimed that he had a Customs officer friend named ACG Ahmad Jibrin, who was purportedly given slots to fill at the NCS.
A statement by the spokesperson for the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Wilson Uwujaren, said the convict asked the victim to pay N530,000 into his account to get the customs job.
“The complainant subsequently paid the sum of N330,000 in the hope of securing the appointment. When the job offer was not forthcoming, he realised that he had been duped and demanded a refund of his money to no avail,” the EFCC statement said.
EFCC subsequently filed one count of obtaining by false pretence against Fulani.
The charge read: “That you Ado Abubakar S Fulani sometimes in January, 2021 at Kano within the jurisdiction of this Honourrable Court with intent to defraud did obtain the sum of N330,000.00(Three Hundred and Thirty Thousand Naira Only) 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.”
The defendant pleaded guilty to the one count charge. In view of his guilty plea, prosecution counsel, Salihu Sani, asked the court to convict him accordingly.
The judge, Sanusi Maaji, convicted and sentenced the convict to seven years imprisonment without option of fine.
The convict was also ordered to make restitution of N330, 000 to the victim of the fraud.