Goni Yilkan
The federal capital territory (FCT) high court has sentenced Goni Yilkan, an ex-legislative aide, to eight years in prison over a N120 million employment scam.
Yilkan was convicted on a two-count charge bordering on obtaining money by false pretence.
He was arraigned by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) alongside Mohammed Adamu in October 2023 following a petition against him.
According to the EFCC, Hindatu Bello, the petitioner, said Yilkan deceived her between 2020 and 2021 by claiming that he had capacity to secure employment slots in the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), and Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC).
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Bello said she collected the sum of N120,580,550 from 60 jobseekers and remitted same to Yilkan for the employment slots.
The petitioner told the EFCC that the convict did not provide the employment after the payment.
“That you, Mohammed Goni Yilkan, Mohammed Adamu and others at large between 3rd January 2020 and December 2021 in Abuja within the jurisdiction of the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory with intent to defraud obtained the sum of N120, 580, 550 (One Hundred and Twenty Million, Five Hundred and Eighty Thousand, Five Hundred and Fifty Naira) from Mrs. Hindatu Bello under the false pretence that you had the capacity to secure jobs for her candidates in various Ministries, Departments and Agencies of the Federal Government of Nigeria which pretence you knew to be false and thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 1(1)(a) of the Advance Fee Fraud and Other Related Offences Act, 2006 and punishable under Section 1(3) of the same Act,” part of the charge sheet reads.
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In his judgment, F. E. Messiri, the trial judge, held that the prosecution had proved its case beyond reasonable doubt.
Messiri convicted Yilkan but discharged and acquitted the co-defendant.
The trial judge sentenced Yilkan to eight years behind bars without an option of fine.
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