A High Court, sitting in Maiduguri, Borno state, has convicted and sentenced Aisha Wakil, also known as Mama Boko Haram alongside two others to 10 years imprisonment.
The other convicts are – Tahiru Saidu Daura and Prince Lawal Soyade.
They were arraigned by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on a two-count charge of conspiracy and fraud to the tune of N40 million.
The count two of the charge reads: “That you Aisha Alkali Wakil, Tahiru Alhaji Saidu Daura, and Prince Lawal Soyade whilst being the Chief Executive Officer, Programme Manager, and Country Director respectively of Complete Care and Aid Foundation, (a Non-Governmental Organisation) and Saidu Mukhtar (at large) sometime in Maiduguri, Borno State within the jurisdiction of this honourable court did with intent to defraud obtained the sum of N40m from one Bashir Abubakar, the Chief Executive Officer of Duty-Free Shop Ltd under the false pretence of executing a purported contract for the supply of five X-ray Machines 1900 with Solar Energy which you knew to be false and thereby committed an offence contrary to Section (1) 1 (b) of the Advance Fee Fraud and other Fraud Related Offences Act, 2006 and punishable under Section 1(3) of the same Act.”
The defendants however pleaded not guilty when the charges were read to them, while the counsel for the prosecution, A. I Arogha, presented four witnesses and tendered 17 exhibits before the court.
The commission’s Head of Media and Publicity, Dele Oyewale, made this known in a statement on Monday.
Justice Umaru Fadawu, “convicted and sentenced them to 10 years imprisonment for the offence of conspiracy. The court further sentenced the defendants to 10 years imprisonment for the offence of obtaining by false pretence and ordered them to jointly and severally pay the sum of N40m to Bashir Muhammad.
“The prison term shall run concurrently on the expiration of all prison terms imposed on the convicts by any court.
The convicts’ journey to the correctional centre began when a petitioner alleged that they swindled him through a purported contract for the supply of five x-ray machines 1900 with solar energy to a non-governmental organisation, Complete Care and Aid Foundation, worth N40m. They neither supplied the machines nor returned the contract sum to the petitioner.”
