Court jails woman for 90 years

A Federal High Court in Enugu on Thursday convicted and sentenced one Mrs Chika Charles to 90 years in prison for a N5.6 million university admission scam.

 The jail term comprises three years on each of the 30-count charge preferred against her by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), the commission said in a statement.

According to the statement, signed by the EFCC Head of Media and Publicity, Mr Wilson Uwujaren, the 

sentences are to run concurrently from the date of her conviction.

The presiding judge, Justice D. Agishir, found Chika guilty of swindling three young Nigerians to the tune of N5.6 million.

During the trial, the court heard that the convict obtained the money under the guise of helping her victims to secure admission into the Enugu State University of Science and Technology (ESUTH).

She was said to have perpetrated the crime through her unregistered non-governmental organisation (NGO) known as Bold and Dynamic Gender Initiative.

One Simon Chidubem and Friday Ali, both at large, were named as her accomplices, while Okudoh Obinna was mentioned as one of the victims.

But Chika ran out of luck in 2007 when one of her victims petitioned the EFCC on her fraudulent activities.

The EFCC also secured the conviction of a former local government council chairman in Kaduna State, Mr Ibrahim Baba, for fraud.