A Borno State High Court in Maiduguri has sentenced a businesswoman, Yagana Mohammed, to six months’ imprisonment for fraudulently obtaining ₦3.5 million from a job seeker under the false promise of securing employment in Qatar.
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) prosecuted Mohammed on a one-count amended charge of criminal misappropriation after investigations revealed she collected the money in 2025, failed to secure the promised job and converted the funds to her personal use.
According to the anti-graft agency on Wednesday, the convict deceived the victim, Mohammed Yaji, into believing she could facilitate his employment in the State of Qatar.
After collecting the ₦3.5 million, she neither secured the promised job nor refunded the money, prompting the petitioner to report the matter to the EFCC for investigation.
The charge reads: “That you, Yagana Musa Mohammed, sometimes in 2025 at Maiduguri, Borno State within the jurisdiction of this honourable court dishonestly misappropriated and converted to your own use the aggregate sum of N3,500,000.00 only, money belonging to Mohammed Tukur Yaji, during the course of your work while assessing to the State of Qatar and thereby committed an offence contrary to section 296 of the Penal Code Law and Other Matters Connected therein and punishable under Section 297 of the same Law.”
When the charge was read, Mohammed pleaded guilty. Following her plea, prosecution counsel, A.D. Abdulmalik, urged the court to convict and sentence her accordingly, arguing that the prosecution had established its case.
Counsel to the defendant, H.A. Aliyu, appealed for leniency, telling the court that the convict was remorseful and had restituted the petitioner by refunding the money.
In his ruling, Justice B.T. Zannah found Mohammed guilty and sentenced her to six months’ imprisonment with an option of a ₦50,000 fine.