Justice H. Kereng of a Gombe State High Court sitting in Gombe, has convicted and sentenced President of National Association of Charcoal Producers and Exporters, Edu Azeez to one year imprisonment.
Azeez and his company, Ablims Limited were jailed on Tuesday, after pleading guilty to a two-count charge of conspiracy and obtaining under false pretence upon being arraigned by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC.
One of the count charges reads: “That you Edu Babatunde and Ablims Limited sometimes in December, 2022 at Gombe , Gombe State within the jurisdiction of this court fraudulently obtained the sum of N7.183million 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.
Another charge reads: “That you Edu Babatunde and Ablims Limited sometimes in December 2022 at Gombe, Gombe State within the jurisdiction of this 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.
Consequent upon his guilty plea, prosecution counsel, A. Kware urged the court to convict and sentence the defendant as charged but counsel to the defendant, Inusa Mahammed pleaded with the court to temper justice with mercy as the defendant is a first time – offender.
After listening to the counsels, Justice Kereng convicted and sentenced Azeez and his company Ablims Limited to one year imprisonment with an option of N200,000 as fine
Azeez’s journey to prison began when a petitioner alleged that he defrauded him of the sum of N7.183million and all efforts to regain his money proved abortive.
