A magistrates' court in Minna, Niger State, has sentenced five men, Aliyu Mohammed (39), Vincent Emeka (37), Bello Yusuf (25), Abubakar Yellow and Osita Okonko, to two years in prison each with an option of N100,000 fine each for criminal conspiracy, criminal misappropriation and cheating.

The court also ordered the convicts to pay the complainant a N2.8m compensation each or serve four years in prison in lieu.

The Magistrate, Hajiya Fatima Umar Hassan, held that the convicts were only eligible to be fined when they paid half of the compensation, which was N1.4m each.

Earlier, the prosecutor, Inspector Bello Mohammed, told the court that the defendants forged a document, including a Fidelity Bank cheque and asked the complainant, Mohammed Abdullahi, to supply them with 150 bundles of zinc and five cartons of nail.

Inspector Bello said, "On the 21st of May, 2024, at about 1345 hours, a direct criminal complaint was referred from the Chief Magistrates' Court 3, High Court Complex, Minna, to the GRA Police Station for discrete investigation. That on the same date one Mohammed Abdullah of Agbabello Trading Company Limited came and reported that on the 14th of May, 2024, Aliyu Mohammed, Vincent Emeka, Bello Yusuf, Osita Okonko and Abubakar Bello, all of Abuja, criminally came to his shop located at Building Materials, Talba Market, and fraudulently induced him to supply 150 bundles of zinc and five cartons of nail valued at N9.4m."

He further told the court that Aliyu Mohammed presented a fake deposit slip of Fidelity Bank as evidence of payment after crediting the company's account with a UBA cheque, explaining that the cheque was also later discovered to be fake.

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