A Gombe State High Court has sentenced Dabiet Gilbert, an officer of the Nigerian Immigration Service, to one year in prison for a job scam.
Gilbert was accused of tricking Akoh Accoustic into giving him N800,000 by promising to get him a job with the Nigerian Correctional Services. The court heard that Gilbert lied about being able to secure the job and took the money under false pretenses.
The charge against Gilbert stated, “That you Dabiet Gilbert on or about 28th May 2021 in Gombe, Gombe State within the jurisdiction of this Honourable court, with intent to defraud, obtained the sum of N800,000.00 from Akoh Daniel Accoustic by falsely representing that the said sum was for job placement with the Nigerian Correctional Services which pretence you knew to be false and thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 320 and punishable under Section 322 of the Penal Code Law.”
When the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) brought Gilbert to court, he admitted to the fraud charge.
In a statement on Friday, EFCC’s spokesperson, Dele Oyewale, said, “Gilbert pleaded ‘guilty’ to his one charge, prompting prosecution counsel, A.M Labaran to pray the court to convict and sentence him accordingly, though the defence counsel, Yusuf Ali pleaded with the court to temper justice with mercy, Haruna pleaded ‘guilty’ only to count-two of his charges, prompting prosecution counsel M.Ugbe to pray the court to convict and sentence him accordingly.”
Justice H.H. Kereng sentenced Gilbert to one year in prison but also gave him the option to pay a fine of N60,000 instead.
Oyewale explained that Gilbert’s trouble started when his victim complained to the EFCC after realizing that he had been scammed for a fake job with the Nigerian Correctional Service. Attempts to get his money back failed, leading to the court case and eventual sentencing.