The Enugu Zonal Command of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has brought forth charges against Mokawo Ahmed Yakubu and Chibuzor Okpara before Justice Mohammed Garba Umar of the Federal High Court, situated in Independence Layout, Enugu State. The charges, encompassing six counts, relate to conspiracy and obtaining by false pretense to the sum of N35,000,000.00 (Thirty-Five Million Naira).
One of the charges reads: “That you, Mokawo Ahmed Yakubu, Chibuzor Okpara, and Obinna Magnus Amadi (At large) on 3rd November, 2022, in Owerri, Imo State, within the jurisdiction of the Federal High Court of Nigeria, with intent to defraud, induced one Alhaji Tukur Yuguda to deliver to you the sum of N20,000,000.00 (Twenty Million Naira) under the pretense that you will supply to him (Alhaji Tukur Yuguda) five pieces of Howo Truck, Two Howo single head, and other accessories, which pretense you knew to be false, thereby committing an offence contrary to Section 1 (1) (a) of Advance Fee Fraud and Other Fraud Related Offences Act, 2006 and punishable under Section 1 (3) of the same Act”.
Upon the reading of the charges, the defendants entered a plea of “not guilty”. Consequently, Nuradeen Shehu Ingawa, Counsel to the EFCC, requested a trial date from the court to enable the prosecution to present its case, and proposed that the defendants be remanded at the Correctional facility.
In contrast, the defense counsel, Arinze Anyigo, petitioned the court to remand the defendants at the EFCC’s facility.
Subsequently, Justice Umar adjourned the matter to March 6, 2024, for the hearing of the bail application. Pending further proceedings, the defendants were remanded at the EFCC’s facility.
The defendants purportedly persuaded Alhaji Tukur Yuguda to release the sum of N35 million under the guise of supplying him with five pieces of Howo Truck, Two Howo single heads, and other accessories. Following the realization that he had been defrauded subsequent to making the payments, the petitioner’s attempts to recover the funds from the defendants proved futile.
