The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has successfully convicted and sentenced two individuals, Goni Muhammad and Seidu Seriki Hamani, to seven years imprisonment for their involvement in the sale of fake gold belonging to former first lady, Patience Jonathan. The Maiduguri Zonal Command of the EFCC secured the conviction on Thursday, September 28, 2023.
The defendants, who were arraigned on May 16, 2022, before Justice Aisha Kumaliya of the Borno State High Court in Maiduguri, faced charges of conspiracy and obtaining under false pretense in the amount of N26 million. One of the counts read as follows:
“That you, Goni Mohammad and Seidu Seriki Hamman sometimes in January 2020 at Maiduguri, Borno State, within the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court, with intent to defraud, did obtain 2 grams of gold at the rate of N26,492,000.00 (Twenty-Six Million Four Hundred and Ninety-Two Thousand Naira) allegedly belonging to the wife of the former President Dr. Goodluck Ebele Jonathan under false pretenses, which you knew to be false and thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 1(1) of the Advance Fee Fraud and other Fraud-Related Offences Act 2006 and punishable under Section 1(3) of the same Act.”
The defendants pleaded not guilty when the charges were read to them. In the course of the trial, EFCC Counsel, Mukhtar Ali Ahmed, presented three witnesses and submitted several documents as exhibits. However, the defense counsel, H. Waziri, pleaded with the court to show mercy, considering the defendants’ inability to secure bail after their arraignment.
In her judgment, Justice Kumaliya found Goni Muhammad and Seidu Seriki Hamani guilty on count one—the offence of conspiracy—and sentenced them to seven years imprisonment each. They were also sentenced to seven years for the offence of obtaining under false pretense. These sentences will run concurrently, starting from the day they were first arraigned.
Furthermore, the judge ordered Mr. Muhammad to pay the remaining balance of N16,492,000.00 to his victim or serve an additional seven years imprisonment.
