- Safiu Kehinde
The Borno State High Court sitting has on Thursday convicted and sentenced one Abubakar Wada and Abba Mohammed to different jail terms over separate charges bordering on fraud and unlawful possession of several Automated Teller Machine (ATM) cards.
This was disclosed in a statement issued on the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission’s (EFCC) official X handle on Friday.
According to the statement, the defendants were arraigned by the Maiduguri Zonal Directorate of the (EFCC) on a one-count separate amended charges.
While Wada was docked on charges bordering on criminal misappropriation and theft to the tune of N7 million, Mohammed was arraigned for unlawful possession of 13 Automated Teller Machines, ATM cards belonging to different individuals.
The charge against Wada reads: “That you ABUBAKAR RABIU WADA (aka SADIQ GALI) with National identification Number 22361298201 sometime in 2023 at Maiduguri, Borno State, within the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court, dishonestly misappropriated and converted to your own use the aggregate sum of N7,000,000.00 (Seven Million Naira) monies belonging to Sadiq Zubairu purportedly as payment for the supply of broken rice and thereby committed an offence and punishable under Section 308 and 309 of the Penal Code Laws of Borno State, Cap 102 Vol. 13 1994”.
While the charge against Mohammed reads: “That you, ABBA MOHAMMED on or about May, 2025 in Maiduguri, Borno State, within the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court, took unlawful possession of Thirteen (13) automated teller machines (ATM) cards of different financial institutions belonging to unsuspecting members of the public without their consent and thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 273 and punishable under Section 274 of the Borno State Penal Code Law and other matter connected therewith (No. 3 Vol. 48 Law 2023) respectively”.
The defendants pleaded guilty to the charges preferred against them by the EFCC.
In view of their separate pleas, prosecution counsel, A.D Abdulmalik and S.O Saka prayed the court to convict and sentence them accordingly.
Consequently, Justice Kumaliya convicted and sentenced Wada to three years imprisonment with an option of N100,000 fine.
On his part, Mohammed was sentenced to one-year imprisonment with an option of N50,000 fine.
Wada’s journey to jail started when he purportedly requested money from his victim for the supply of rice and neither the rice was supplied nor his money paid back.
Mohammed, on the other hand, was brought to the EFCC by Staff of a Bank that he made attempts to swap and steal ATM cards belonging to unsuspecting customers of the bank.