Justice K. Dagat of the Federal High Court, sitting in Maiduguri, Borno State, has convicted and sentenced three illegal Bureau-de-Change operators to one-year imprisonment each.
The convicts, identified as Buba Ahmadu Aliyu, Mohammed Mustapha, and Muhammad Zarami, were arrested and arraigned by operatives of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, on a one-count separate charge for operating bureau de change businesses without an appropriate licence.
The count against Aliyu reads “That you, Buba Ahmadu Aliyu sometime in May 2024, within the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court, did carry on, other financial business without license issued by the Central Bank of Nigeria contrary to section 57 (1) and (2)b and punishable under section 57 (5) b of the Banks and other Financial Institutions Act, 2020.”
In the same vein, the charge against Mustapha reads: “That you, Mohammed Mustapha sometime in May 2024, within the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court, did carry on, other financial business without license issued by the Central Bank of Nigeria contrary to Section 57 (1) and (2)b and punishable under 57 (5) b of the Banks and other Financial Institutions Act, 2020.”
They pleaded guilty to the charges when they were read to them.
Justice Dagat thereafter convicted and sentenced the defendants to one-year imprisonment with an option of N100,000 fine each.