Justice Peter Kekemeke of an FCT High Court on Tuesday sentenced a fake investigator, Mohammed Momoh, to seven years imprisonment for duping Mrs Mario Al-Makura, wife of the former governor of Nasarawa State.
Kekemeke sentenced Momoh based on the charge preferred against him by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, bordering on false pretences.
Momoh after his counsel, Godwin Omagbogu, pleaded on his behalf.
Omagbogu had pleaded for leniency on behalf of his client, saying he was a first-time offender and father to three little children and a young wife.
The prosecution counsel, Diana Nkwap, however, urged the court to use its discretion in sentencing the convict.
The judge held that the punishment under which the defendant is charged attracts 20 years imprisonment maximum and seven years minimum.
Justice Kekemeke thereafter sentenced Momoh to seven years imprisonment.
The judge had earlier on February 27, 2024, convicted Momoh when he held that the prosecution proved its case beyond reasonable doubt.
Momoh was arrested in December 2017 by operatives of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission for attempting to defraud Mairo Al makura.
The EFCC alleged that the suspect, while posing as a private investigator from the “Villa,” approached the wife of the Nasarawa governor with a proposal to help stop a purported investigation of two accounts belonging to her husband.
The anti-graft agency said Momoh claimed that he came across information regarding the two accounts in 2011.
The EFCC said the defendant requested for N8 million but was offered N6 million. Not clear about the proposal, the governor’s family contacted the EFCC and were asked to play along with the defendant.
The defendant was arrested during a sting operation after he collected marked N2 million from Al Makura.
According to the EFCC, the offence is contrary to Section 1(1)(a) and punishable under Section 1(3) of the Advance Fee Fraud and Other Fraud Related Offences Act No. 14 of 2006.