Kehinde Fajobi
A high court in Maiduguri, Borno State, has sentenced Aisha Wakil, popularly known as Mama Boko Haram, to five years imprisonment for fraud.
Delivering judgment on Thursday, November 28, 2024, Justice Aisha Kumaliya convicted Wakil, alongside Tahiru Daura, the programme manager of Complete Care and Aid Foundation, and Lawal Shoyode, its country director.
The trio, arraigned by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on September 1, 2020, faced four amended charges of cheating, conspiracy, and giving false information involving ₦6 million. They pleaded not guilty.
During the trial, the prosecution presented three witnesses and submitted several documents to substantiate its case.
Justice Kumaliya found the defendants guilty and sentenced them to five years each without the option of a fine.
The judge further ordered the defendants to jointly and severally pay ₦3.5 million restitution to the petitioner. Failure to do so would attract an additional five-year jail term.
The EFCC revealed that the defendants fraudulently acquired a 2012 Toyota Camry valued at ₦6 million from a petitioner under the guise of purchasing it but failed to pay or return the vehicle.
This is not Wakil’s first fraud conviction. She was previously sentenced to multiple prison terms for various fraud cases:
In June 2022, she received five years imprisonment for ₦71.4 million fraud.
In August 2022, she was sentenced to seven years for a ₦66 million fraud.
A month later, in September 2022, she received another seven-year sentence for ₦15 million fraud.
In December 2022, Wakil was jailed for 10 years in a ₦120.5 million fraud case.
Most recently, in February 2024, she was sentenced to 10 years imprisonment with Daura and Shoyode for defrauding a petitioner of ₦40 million.