Follow Us on Google
The Maiduguri Zonal Directorate of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) ,yesterday, arraigned one Sadi Babale before Justice Aisha Kumaliya of the Borno State High Court, Maiduguri, over an alleged N19 million land fraud.
Babale was arraigned on a one-count charge bordering on criminal misappropriation involving the sum of N19,000,000.
The charge reads: “That you, Sadi Babale, sometime in September 2024 at Maiduguri, Borno State, within the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court, did dishonestly misappropriate the total sum of N19,000,000 belonging to one Alhaji Tijjani Mohammed and thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 296 and punishable under Section 297 of the Penal Code Laws of Borno State.”
The defendant pleaded not guilty to the charge when it was read to him.
Other News
Following the plea, prosecution counsel, Mukhtar Ali Ahmed, urged the court to fix a date for trial and remand the defendant in a correctional facility pending the determination of the case.
Counsel to the defendant, J. Yakubu, informed the court of his intention to move an application for the defendant’s bail.
Justice Kumaliya subsequently adjourned the matter until July 28, 2026, for the hearing of the bail application and ordered that the defendant be remanded at the Maiduguri Maximum Correctional Facility.
According to the EFCC, the case stemmed from a petition alleging that the complainant paid Babale N19 million to facilitate the purchase of four plots of land. Investigations reportedly revealed that the plots were not genuine, while the defendant allegedly converted the money to his personal use instead of refunding it to the petitioner.
