The Federal High Court, Gombe, Gombe State has convicted and sentenced two Nigeria Police officers – Yusuf AbdulKarim Bature and Musa Philip and a Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) officer, Nasiru Mohammed, to seven years imprisonment each for employment fraud to the tune of  N1,640,000.

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).

They were sentenced by Justice  T.G. Ringing of the Federal High Court sitting in Gombe on Tuesday, November 26, 2024.

Count one of the charges against Yusuf AbdulKarim Bature and Musa Philip read – “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 read – “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.

In view of their guilty pleas, the prosecution counsel Tortema Joshua prayed the court to  convict and sentence the defendants accordingly but counsels to the defendants, Babangida Mohammed and K.K. Jomoh pleaded with the court to temper justice with mercy  as the defendants were first -time offenders who are remorseful of their actions.

Justice Ringing thereafter convicted and sentenced Bature, Philip and Mohammed to seven  years imprisonment each or a fine of N50,000 (Fifty Thousand Naira) each.  

In addition, the judge ordered  the convicts to pay restitution  of N1,640,000 to the petitioners and sign an undertaking to be of good behaviour henceforth.

 The convicts’ journey to the Correctional Centre began sometime in February 8, 2024 when some petitioners alleged  that Bature and Philip collected N970,000 while Mohammed collected N670,000 as payment  for employment slots.  The convicts neither offered the petitioners the jobs nor returned their money to them.