Gombe court jails charcoal producer  president for N7m Fraud

Stanley Ihedigbo

Justice H.H. Kereng of the Gombe State High Court sitting in Gombe, Gombe State has convicted and sentenced the President of the National Association of Charcoal Producers and Exporters, Edu Babatunde Azeez to one year imprisonment.

According to the Head,  Media & Publicity, Dele Oyewale, Azeez and his company,  Ablims Limited were jailed on Tuesday, April 23,  2024, after pleading guilty to a two-count charge of conspiracy and obtaining under false pretence upon being arraigned by the Gombe  Zonal Command of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC.

One of the count charges reads: “That you Edu Babatunde and Ablims Limited sometime in December 2022 at Gombe, Gombe State within the jurisdiction of this honourable court fraudulently obtained the sum of N7,183, 750.00 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 sometime in December 2022 at Gombe, Gombe State within the jurisdiction of this honourable 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.B. 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 a fine

Azeez’s journey to the Correctional centre began when a petitioner alleged that he defrauded him of the sum of N7,183,750.00 and all efforts to regain his money proved abortive.