Justice Darius Khobo of the Kaduna High Court on Tuesday sentenced a man, Haruna Sani, to three years imprisonment for N3.4m land fraud.
The judge sentenced Sani after he pleaded guilty to a charge of fraud.
Khobo said the sentence would serve as a deterrent to others who intend or indulge in such a crime.
He, however, gave the convict an option to pay N200,000 as fine and warned him to remain a law-abiding citizen.
Khobo also ordered the convict to restitute the sum of N3.4m to the complainant, Ahmed Garba.
”If the convict fails to pay the restitution, he shall serve additional four years jail term (totaling seven years jail term),” the judge said.
Earlier, EFCC Counsel, Mr. Precious Onyeneho told the court that the convict committed the crime sometime in July 2020 in Kaduna.
Onyeneho said Sani defrauded the complainant of N3.4 million under the pretext of selling to Garba three plots of land situated at Gidan Daji Danbushiya Kujama District Area of Chikun Local Government, Kaduna.
The prosecution said the convict collected the money for the plots of land and absconded with the money.
He said the defendant was arrested when the complainant wrote a petition to the EFCC.
Onyeneho said the offence was contrary to Section 293 of the Penal Code, Kaduna State, 2017.