A pastor of the Deeper Life Bible Church, Anjorin Adanikin and a Mallam, Maliu Aliyu, were sentenced to one year in prison on Thursday for defrauding local farmers in the distribution of fertilizer.
They were sentenced by an Ado Ekiti Magistrate’s Court which found them guilty of fraud in converting the fertilizer to their own personal business.
Police prosecutor, Sergeant Oriyomi Akinwale, told the court that the accused persons committed the offence between May and June 2013 in Emure Ekiti, headquarters of Emure local government area of Ekiti State.
According to the prosecutor, the accused fraudulently converted 1,800 bags of fertilizer which was meant for distribution to farmers in the local government area to their own personal business.
The commodity was supposed to be sold to farmers at the official price of N2,750 per bag which the accused connived to sell to them at the rate of N3,500 per bag valued at the rate of N9 million.
He explained that the quantity was three trailer loads of fertilizer which was sent to the council area by government to boost the yield of local farmers, but the accused diverted excess profit into their private businesses.
The prosecutor noted that the offence was contrary to Section 1 (3) of the Advanced Free Fraud and other Related Offences Act LFN 2006.
The counsel to the accused, Ademola Okeya pleaded with the court to temper justice with mercy on his client.
The counsel’s plea for leniency was rejected by the presiding Magistrate, Bayode Owoeye, who described the accused persons’ action as “callous.”
He said the court would not shy away from dispensing justice to serve as a deterrent to others who may want to commit such fraud in the future.
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