President of the National Association of Charcoal Producers and Exporters (NACPE), Edu Babatunde Azeez, has been sentenced to one year in prison by Justice H.H. Kereng of the Gombe State High Court. The fraud case involved N7 million.
Having pleaded guilty to two counts of conspiracy and obtaining money under false pretenses, Azeez and his company, Ablims Limited, faced the consequences.
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Gombe State Zonal Command, arraigned Azeez and his company based on a petition filed by Ayanbisi Ismail. Ismail alleged that Azeez defrauded him of N7,183,750, and all attempts to recover the money failed.
The charges outlined that Azeez and his company deceitfully acquired the money in December 2022, misleadingly claiming it was payment for exporting charcoal to Saudi Arabia.
The two counts against Azeez were stated as follows: “That you Edu Babatunde and Ablims Limited sometime in December 2022 at Gombe, Gombe State within the jurisdiction of this honourable court fraudulently obtained the sum of N7,183,750 from one Ayanbisi Ismail by falsely representing the money to be for exporting charcoal to Saudi Arabia, a representation which you knew to be false and thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 320 and punishable under Section 322 of the penal Code Law.
“That you Edu Babatunde and Ablims Limited sometime in December 2022 at Gombe, Gombe State within the jurisdiction of this honourable court conspired amongst yourselves to do an illegal act to wit: cheating and thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 96 and punishable under Section 97(2) of the Penal code Law.”
Following the guilty plea, the prosecution counsel, A.B. Kware, urged the court to convict and sentence Azeez accordingly.
Meanwhile, the defense counsel, Inusa Mahammed, sought leniency for Azeez, highlighting his first-time offender status.
In the verdict, Justice Kereng convicted and sentenced Azeez and Ablims Limited to one year in prison with an option to pay a N200,000 fine.