A man identified as Allen Abel has been sentenced to 125 years Imprisonment by Justice Aisha Kumaliya of the Borno State High Court for defrauding a company, Lele Foresight Construction Company of N12.8 million.
It was gathered that Abel carried out the criminal act with the alibi of executing a contract for the Federal Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development under the school feeding scheme of the Social Intervention Programme of the Federal Government.
Abel was arraigned on July 2, 2020, together with Suleiman Adamu, Usman Adamu and Kingsley Madubuagu by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on 20 counts, some of which are: forgery, possession of false documents, impersonation and obtaining by false pretences.
The Justice convicted the trio after they pleaded guilty to the charges. The case was thereafter adjourned till Wednesday, September 30, 2020 for sentencing.
On Wednesday, Justice Kumaliya sentenced Abel to seven years’ imprisonment each on count one to six and count nine without an option of fine; five years’ imprisonment on each of count seven, eight and 11 to 20 without an option of fine. All sentences are to run consecutively.
The Head of Media and Publicity, EFCC, Wilson Uwujaren, said in a statement issued out that, “The court ordered Abel to return the sum of N12,110,000 to Lele Foresight Construction Company and the sum of N769,800 to HIE Global Investment Limited.”
Count three of the charge reads, “That you, Allen Abel, Suleiman Adamu and Usman Adamu, sometime between February and March 2020 at Maiduguri, Borno State, within the jurisdiction of this honourable court, with intent to defraud, obtained 1,313 cartons of spaghetti and 480 bags of rice, both worth N12, 110,000 only from one Lelle Hyelwa Sini of Lelle Foresight Construction Company Limited under the false pretext of executing a contract of supply of food items purportedly awarded by the Federal Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development (Federal Government School Feeding Programme under the Social Intervention Programme), which you knew to be false, 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.”
