An Abuja Magistrates’ court has sentenced a 40-year old cook, Bello Yahaya, to nine months in prison for impersonating a Customs officer and duping him of N2.5 million.
Yahaya, who resides in Gishiri Village, Abuja, is charged with cheating, breach of trust and impersonation.
The Magistrate, Mr. Emmanuel Iyana, sentenced the convict after he pleaded guilty to the offence without an option of fine.
Iyana also ordered the convict to pay N2.5 million to the complainant as compensation.
Earlier, Prosecutor Abdulahi Alhassan told the court that Anthony Ene of the same address lodged a report against the convict at the Mabushi Police Station on February 6.
Alhassan said that sometime in September 2013, the convict presented himself as a custom officer in charge of the auction department to the complainant promising to secure a job for his sister.
He said the convict also collected the sum of N2.5 million from the complainant, saying he would buy him a car, but converted the said money to his own use.
The prosecutor added that the offence contravened Sections 312, 322 and 179 of the Penal code respectively.
The convict told the court that he is not a custom officer, and he used the said money to buy a land.
“I only lied to him that I was a custom officer, I am a cook.
“I used the money he gave me to buy a land, it was the devil that made me to do it, have mercy on me I will not do it again,’’ he pleaded. (NAN)
