The
Kaduna division of the court of Appeal today, December 18th, 2017
upheld the judgment of the Kano State High Court which convicted and
sentenced an Ex-Bank Manager, Samuel Owoleye to 19 years imprisonment in
2012.
Owoleye, a Manager at the Union Bank Branch of Bank Road Kano who
was prosecuted by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC,
for offences bordering on Obtaining by False Pretence contrary to
sections 1(1) of the Advance Fee Fraud and Other Fraud Related Offences
Act, 2006 and section 371 of the Penal code law, had pleaded not guilty
and the prosecution, through its counsel A.T Habib, presented ten
witnesses and tendered numerous exhibits in order to prove the case
against him during his trial.
On the 20th day of June 2012, the Kano State High Court presided
over by Honourable Justice Dije Abdu Aboki found the accused person
guilty on the three count charge that were preferred against him by the
commission and convicted him accordingly.
The appellant was subsequently sentenced to 10 years imprisonment
on count one, 7 years imprisonment on count 2 without option of fine.
However, on count three, he was sentenced to 2 years imprisonment with
option of N300,000 fine. While the sentence in count one and two were to
run concurrently, the appellant was to serve consecutive sentence in
count three.
Owoyele’s road to prison started when the commission received a
petition from one Ashiru Munzali Gambo that the convict obtained the sum
N27,000,000 (Twenty Seven Million Naira) under a false pretence that he
had $185,000 (one hundred and eighty-five thousand United States
Dollars) to sell to him.
Being dissatisfied with the judgment of the trial court, the
convict approached the Kaduna division of the Court of Appeal in a bid
to set aside the judgment of the lower court on three grounds.
In a judgment delivered by Honourable Justice Bdlya Ibrahim all the
issues raised by the appellant were resolved against the appellant and
in favour of the respondents. The appeal was dismissed for lack of
merit.
The convict was immediately rearrested by officers of the Commission and conveyed to Kano Zonal Office of the Commission.
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