Court Detains man for land fraud in Maiduguri

On Monday, the Maiduguri Zonal Command of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission was able to win the conviction and one-year incarceration of Sadiq Mustapha on a charge of land fraud.

After Yawudi Zarma paid the money to buy a block of land that Mustapha claimed to be his, Zarma was found guilty of defrauding Mustapha of N3.9 million.

The property is located in Maiduguri, the capital of Borno State, near the Pompomari Industrial Layout.

The report states that Mustaoha neither gave the customer the land nor gave him his money back.

This was announced by the anti-graft agency on Wednesday in a tweet sent from its X (previously Twitter) profile.

Upon awaiting trial before Borno State High Court Judge Umaru Fadawu, Mustapha entered a guilty plea to a single count of cheating to the extent of the specified amount.

A. I. Arogha, the prosecution’s attorney, pleaded with the court to find the defendant guilty and to sentence him appropriately in light of the plea.

Fadawu delivered the verdict and gave the defendant a year in prison with the possibility of a N200,000 fine.The charge read, “That you Sadiq Mustapha on or about the 10th day of August 2017, at Maiduguri, within the judicial division of this Honourable Court, did fraudulently induce Yawudi Zarma to deliver to you the sum of three million, nine hundred thousand naira, N3,900,000.00, under the guise that the said amount represents payment for the purchase of a plot of land covered by grant right of occupancy No. BO/2065/16, Plot No. 7 on BOTP/64, Pompomari Industrial Layout, Maiduguri, which you claimed to be the owner and thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 320 (a) of the Penal Code Law Cap. 102 Laws of Borno State and Punishable under Section 323 of the same Law.”