By Christopher Oji
A Federal Capital Territory High Court in Gwagwalada, Abuja, has found guilty and convicted one Mrs. Ramat Mercy Mba, a mother of five children, for forging the signature of former President Muhammadu Buhari’s Chief of Staff, the late Abba Kyari.
The presiding judge, Justice Ibrahim Mohammad, however deferred the sentencing of the convict till Thursday, but directed that she be remanded in the Suleja Correctional Centre.
The Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) had arraigned Mba in June 2022 on a five-count charge bordering on cheating, fraud and forgery contrary to Section 13 of the Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Act 200 and Sections 320 (b), 366 of the Penal Code Cap 89 laws of Northern Nigeria.
One of the counts read: “That you, Ramat Mercy Mba (F), sometimes in the month of October, 2019 or thereabouts, at Abuja, within the jurisdiction of this honourable court, did fraudulently induce one Mr. Ismail Adewole Oladipupo, an unsuspecting job seeker, and collected the sum of N700,000.00 only from him, which sum was paid into your private account, under the guise of securing employment for him at the National Space Research and Development Agency (NASDRA), and you, thereby, committed an offence contrary to Section 320(b) and punishable under Section 322 of the Penal Code Cap 89 Laws of Northern Nigeria.”
In the course of the trial, ICPC’s Prosecutor, Mr. Hamza Sani, Esq. led evidence before the court on how the convict dishonestly induced her victims in the guise of securing employment for them with government agencies like Federal Inland Revenue Services (FIRS), National Space Research Development Agency (NASRDA) and the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC).
Furthermore, the documentary evidence tendered shows that the convict fraudulently forged a letterhead paper of the Office of the Chief of Staff to former President Muhammad Buhari, Abba Kyari, and his signature.
The letter, addressed to the Chairman, ICPC, was a request for the recruitment of three individuals by the commission. However, the late chief of staff, in a written correspondence that was also tendered in court as exhibit, distanced himself or his office for authorising the letter.
In his judgement, Justice Ibrahim Muhammad convicted the mother of five children on counts 1, 2, 3 and 5 that deal on cheating and forgery, while she was discharged on count four that deals with felony.
