An ex-Borno State judiciary officer, Ramat Mohammed (alias Gaddafi), was on Tuesday, June 16, 2020, sentenced to 16 years imprisonment by Justice Umaru Fadawu of the Borno State High Court.
Mohammed was convicted on a-two count amended charge for defrauding 194 widows to the tune of N781,800.00 (Seven Hundred and Eighty one Thousand Eight Hundred Naira only).
The Maiduguri Zonal office of the EFCC arraigned the convict on two count-charges bordering on obtaining by false pretence and Advance Fee Fraud and other Fraud related offences.
According to the EFCC, the convict forged and sold a Food Collection Card, in the name of a non-governmental organisation (NGO), to his victims, 194 widows, to the tune of N781,800,000 and failed to deliver food items to them, leading to his arrest and arraignment in court.
The charge read: “That you, Ramat Mohammed (alias Gaddafi), sometime in December, 2018 at Maiduguri, Borno State within the jurisdiction of this honourable court with intent to defraud obtained the gross sum of N520,000.00 (Five Hundred and Twenty Thousand Naira) only from 40 (Forty) women (mostly widows) of Fissabi-lillah Islamic School, under the false pretense that the entire sum represent payments for registration/eligibility for a programme by a Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO) Action Against Hunger (A.A.H) at Auno Town of Konduga L.G.A, Borno State, which payment will entitle the said women to be issued a special card for various food items, 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”.
After the charge was read to the convict, he pleaded guilty to the charges.
Delivering judgement, Justice Fadawu said, “the court hereby sentenced you to (8) eight years imprisonment on count one. You are hereby sentenced to eight (8) years imprisonment on court two and the years to run concurrently.
“The court orders you Ramat Mohammed (alias Gaddafi) to pay the aggregate sum of N781,800.00 (Seven Hundred and Eighty one Thousand Eight Hundred Naira) to 194 (One Hundred and Ninety Four) women of Fissabi-lillah Islamic School or (9) years in default.
“The prison term shall run consecutively”.
