ICPC arraigns school principal for N3.8m fraud

The Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) has arraigned a secondary school principal, Mr. Bello Muhammed Abubakar, before Justice Halima Muhammed of Gombe State High Court sitting in Gombe, over alleged fraudulent activities and other ancillary offences.

The Commission, in a two-count charge brought before the presiding judge, told the court that the defendant defrauded unsuspecting admission seekers of the sum of three million, eight hundred and eighty-four thousand, two hundred Naira (N3,884,200:00).

The charge read in part: “That you Bello Muhammed Abubakar (m) between the period of 2009 to 2014 or thereabout at Gombe within the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court did obtain by false pretense the sum of N3,884,200:00 from unsuspecting admission seekers under the guise of offering them admission into Mukhtar Polytechnic Gombe and Goni Mukhtar College of Education Gombe State.

“And you thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 1(1)(a) and punishable under Section 1(3) of the Advanced Fee Fraud and Other Related Offences Act, 2006.”

ICPC, in a Charge No: GM/128C/2021 said that Abubakar had obtained by false pretense the above sum when he illegally operated the following institutions: Mukhtar Polytechnic, Goni, Mukhtar College of Education, and Goni Mukhtar Linguistic Centre, all in one block of three classrooms in Gombe State between 2009 and 2015.

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The ICPC counsel, Mashkur Salisu, told the court how the school principal perpetrated the offences before he was nabbed by operatives of the Commission during an intelligence-led operation.

The defendant, when asked admitted to take his plea, however, pleaded not guilty to all the charges read to him.

The defence counsel, A.B. Ebrany, moved a bail application in favour of the defendant which was not opposed by the prosecution counsel.

The presiding judge, therefore, granted the accused person bail in the sum of Two Million Naira (N2,000,000) and two sureties in like sum who must be residents within the jurisdiction of the court and must depose to an affidavit of means.

Justice Muhammed adjourned the case till March 29 and 30, 2022 for hearing.

TheStar