The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC has secured the conviction and sentence of a former legislative aide and banker, Mr. Goni Yilkan, for offences bordering on obtaining by false pretence to the tune of N120.5 million.
Yilkan, who hails from Nguru, Yobe State was convicted by Justice F. E Messiri of the Federal Capital Territory High Court sitting in Jabi, Abuja.
He was found guilty on a two-count charge of obtaining money by false pretence, 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, and consequently sentenced to eight years imprisonment without option of fine.
The convict was arraigned alongside one Mohammed Adamu in October 2023, following investigations into a petitioner’s claims of being defrauded by the convict.
According to the petitioner, Yilkan deceived her between 2020 and 2021 into believing that he had the capacity to secure employment slots in government agencies such as the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), and Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC). On this strength, the petitioner collected varying sums of money from over 60 jobseekers, amounting to N120,580,550.00 (One Hundred and Twenty Million, Five Hundred and Eighty Thousand, Five Hundred and Fifty Naira), which she allegedly remitted to the convict.
However, the purported employment offers never materialized, prompting Bello to petition the EFCC.
One of the charges read:
“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.”
In the course of the trial, the prosecution, led by Cosmas Ugwu, called six witnesses and tendered documentary evidence, while the defence, led by J.A. Oguche, presented two witnesses, including Yilkan himself.
In his judgment, Justice Messiri held that the prosecution had proved its case beyond reasonable doubt, convicted Yilkan, but discharged and acquitted his co-defendant, Adamu. The judge further sentenced Yilkan to eight years’ imprisonment without an option of fine.
Yilkan’s journey to the Correctional Centre began when he collected the sum of N120.5million from desperate job seekers in the guise of offering them slots of employment. He neither offered them the jobs nor returned their money to them.
