Court jails two police officers, immigration officer for N1.6m employment fraud in Gombe

 

Justice T.G. Ringing of the Federal High Court sitting in Gombe, Gombe State has convicted and sentenced two police officers alongside an immigration officer to seven years imprisonment each for employment fraud to the tune of N1,640,000 (One Million Six Hundred and Forty Thousand Naira).

The officers are identified as Yusuf AbdulKarim Bature and Musa Philip, while the immigration officer is named Nasiru Mohammed. Operatives of the Gombe Zonal Directorate of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), had arraigned Bature and Philip on two count-charges of obtaining by false pretences and intent to defraud, while Mohammed was arraigned on one-count charge of obtaining by false pretences. This was made known via a statement shared on the X handle of the anti-graft agency on Friday, November 29. The statement reads in part: "Justice T.G. Ringing of the Federal High Court sitting in Gombe, Gombe State on Tuesday, November 26, 2024 convicted and sentenced two police officers: Yusuf AbdulKarim Bature and Musa Philip and an immigration officer; Nasiru Mohammed to seven years imprisonment each for employment fraud to the tune of N1,640,000 (One Million Six Hundred and Forty Thousand Naira) "Bature and Philip were arraigned on two count-charges of obtaining by false pretences and intent to defraud while Mohammed was arraigned on one-count charge of obtaining by false pretences by the Gombe Zonal Directorate of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC. "Count one of the charges against Yusuf AbdulKarim Bature and Musa Philip reads: “That you Yusuf Abdul karim.Bature and Musa Philip while being public officers with the Nigerian Police Force sometime in 2022 in Gombe within the Gombe Judicial division at the Federal High Court of Justice did with intent to defraud falsely obtained from one Asabe Hamed the total sum of Nine Hundred and Seventy Thousand Naira for the purpose of securing a job, a claim you knew to be false”. "The charge against Nasiru Mohammed reads: "that you Nasiru Mohammed sometime in 2022 in Gombe within the jurisdiction of this honourable court while being a staff of the Nigerian Immigration Service did falsely obtained the sum of Six Hundred and Seventy Thousand Naira (N670,000) from Abdul Rahman Abubakar and Akwalo Adamu under the false pretence of securing them a job with the Nigerian Immigration service 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". "Upon arraignment the defendants pleaded guilty to their respective charges."