Ex-Legislative Aide Sentenced To Eight Years For N120.5m Employment Fraud In Abuja

By Micheal Chukwuebuka

A former legislative aide and banker, Mr Goni Yilkan, has been sentenced to eight years’ imprisonment by an Abuja High Court after the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) found him guilty of a N120.5 million employment scam.

Justice F.E. Messiri of the Federal Capital Territory High Court, sitting in Jabi, Abuja, found Yilkan guilty on a two-count charge of obtaining money by false pretence, contrary to Section 1(1)(a) of the Advance Fee Fraud and Other Related Offences Act, 2006, and sentenced him to eight years’ imprisonment without the option of a fine.

Yilkan, a native of Nguru, Yobe State, was arraigned in October 2023 alongside one Mohammed Adamu, following investigations into a petition lodged with the EFCC.

According to the petitioner, Mrs Hindatu Bello, Yilkan deceived her between 2020 and 2021 into believing he could secure employment slots in federal government agencies, including the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), and the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC). Acting on this claim, Bello collected varying sums from more than 60 job seekers, amounting to N120,580,550, which she allegedly handed over to Yilkan.

The promised jobs never materialised, prompting Bello to petition the anti-graft agency.

One of the charges read:
“That you, Mohammed Goni Yilkan, Mohammed Adamu and others at large between 3 January 2020 and December 2021 in Abuja within the jurisdiction of the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory, with intent to defraud, obtained the sum of N120,580,550 from Mrs Hindatu Bello under the false pretence that you had the capacity to secure jobs for her candidates in various Ministries, Departments and Agencies of the Federal Government of Nigeria, which pretence you knew to be false, thereby committing an offence contrary to Section 1(1)(a) of the Advance Fee Fraud and Other Related Offences Act, 2006, and punishable under Section 1(3) of the same Act.”

During the trial, prosecution counsel Cosmas Ugwu presented six witnesses and documentary evidence. The defence, led by J.A. Oguche, called two witnesses, including Yilkan himself.

In his judgment, Justice Messiri ruled that the EFCC had proved its case beyond reasonable doubt. While Yilkan was convicted and sentenced, his co-defendant, Adamu, was discharged and acquitted.

The court heard that Yilkan’s fraudulent scheme involved collecting millions from desperate job seekers under the guise of offering them government employment slots, which he neither provided nor refunded.