An Abuja high court has sentenced former legislative aide, Goni Yilkan, to eight years’ imprisonment for defrauding job seekers of over N120 million under the guise of securing government employment slots.
Gatekeepers News reports that the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) arraigned Yilkan alongside Mohammed Adamu in October 2023 on a two-count charge of obtaining money by false pretence.
According to the EFCC, the case was triggered by a petition from Hindatu Bello, who alleged that between 2020 and 2021, Yilkan claimed he could facilitate employment in Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), and Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC).
Bello said she raised a total of N120,580,550 from 60 job seekers and handed the money over to Yilkan, but no job placements were secured.
Part of the charge sheet read, “That you, Mohammed Goni Yilkan, Mohammed Adamu and others at large, between January 3, 2020 and December 2021 in Abuja, 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 MDAs, which pretence you knew to be false…”
Delivering judgment, Justice F. E. Messiri held that the prosecution proved its case beyond reasonable doubt, convicting Yilkan while acquitting his co-defendant.
