Top Sokoto Civil Servant Sentenced To 7-years Imprisonment Over Job Scam

Hassan Bello, a Director at Sokoto State Commodity Board was handed a seven-year jail term on Wednesday, November 16, for defrauding unsuspecting victims through a job scam.

EFCC had arraigned the convict for fraudulently obtaining about N1.3 million under the guise of offering non-existent employment to hapless job seekers.

The charge against Bello read;

“That you, Hassan Bello, Male, while being the Director Administration Sokoto State Commodity Board sometime in August 2021, within the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court, with intent to defraud, did obtain the sum of One Million Three Hundred and Twenty Thousand Naira from one Aliyu Adamu Tsaki, Yusuf Abubakar, Yahaya Salihu Mohammed and others in the presence of one Dahiru Muhammad, when you falsely represented yourself to them that you will secure employment for them in the Sokoto State Commodity Board and issued them letters of provisional appointments, a representation you knew to be false, and thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 1(1)(a) of the Advance Fee Fraud and Other Fraud Related (Offences) Act 2006 and punishable under Section 1(3) of the same Act”.

He pleaded guilty to the charge during his arraignment. Following his guilty plea, the prosecuting counsel, S.H Sa’ad, urged the court to convict and sentence the defendant accordingly.

The judge then convicted and sentenced Bello to seven years in jail with an option of N100, 000 fine. Mr Mahmud also ordered the convict to pay restitution of N850, 000 to the victims through the EFCC.

The convict would serve a two years jail term should he fail to pay the restitution within six months