Justice R.I.B. Adeniyi of the State High Court sitting
in Ikeja Lagos, on Wednesday, July 9, 2025, convicted and sentenced one
Mohammed Gobir to seven years imprisonment for N300m fraud.
His journey to prison began after he was arrested by
the operatives of EFCC at his Ikoyi, Lagos residence on September 12,
2015, following a petition received by the Commission from an outdoor
advertising company , Afromedia.
Gobir, according to the petitioner, was introduced to
the Company by its private placement consultants, Synergy Capital Advisory
Limited, sometime in 2008.
He, thereafter, offered to invest the sum of N1billion in Afromedia, a pretext
that earned him a position as Chairman, Business Development Committee, on the
Board of Directors.
Investigation revealed that Gobir, having earned the trust of the company’s
Board, defrauded the company of several millions in hard currency.
He was subsequently arraigned on March 17, 2016 by the
Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, on a 17-count charge bordering
on obtaining under false pretence, stealing, possession of fraudulent documents
and forgery.
One of the counts reads: That you, Mohammed Gobir, a
non-Executive Director and Chairman of Business Development Committee of
Afromedia Plc, between January 2009 and December 2011 in Lagos, within the
jurisdiction of this Honourable Court, with intent to defraud, obtained the sum
of N514,457,151.87 (Five Hundred and Fourteen Million, Four Hundred and Fifty
Seven Thousand, One Hundred and Fifty One Naira, Eighty Seven Kobo) from
Afromedia Plc by falsely pretending to Afromedia Plc that the said sum of money
represented the cost of facilitating and securing the sum of $70,000,000
(Seventy Million Dollars) from your account in NATWEST Bank, London, United
Kingdom as your investment fund in Afromedia Plc out of the $250,000,000 (Two
Hundred and Fifty Million United States Dollars) stashed in your account at
NATWEST Bank, London, United Kingdom which pretence you Knew to be false and
thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 1(3) of the Advance Fee Fraud
and Other Fraud Related Offences Act, No . 14, 2006.”
He pleaded “ not guilty” to the charge, thereby
leading to his full trial.
During the trial, the prosecution counsel, Nnaemeka
Omewa, called four witnesses and tendered several documents that were admitted
in evidence against the defendant. The defence counsel, Y.B. Bayero
called three witnesses.
Delivering judgment on Wednesday, Justice
Adebiyi convicted and sentenced the defendant to seven years imprisonment on
count 1 of obtaining under false pretence; counts four and five of stealing and
counts 8, 11, 14 & 17 of possession of fraudulent documents.
He was sentenced to six months imprisonment on counts
four and five of stealing.
The sentences are to run concurrently.
The Judge ordered the convict to pay restitution of
$1?million USD and ?123?million for the convictions on counts four and five for
stealing.
The restitution is to be paid to the nominal
complainant.
The court, however, discharged him on the counts of
forgery and being in possession of forged documents.
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