The Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) has secured the conviction of two staff members of the National Assembly, Mustapha Muhammed and Tijjani Adam Goni, for defrauding Saifudeen Yakub and Aminu Abubakar of the sum of N4,800,000.00 over an alleged job scam.
The convicts had promised to secure jobs for Yakub and Abubakar at the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), respectively.
ICPC spokesperson Demola Bakare said the case stemmed from petition number ICPC/P/NC/1056/2022 submitted to the ICPC by Mr Saifdeen Yakub and Mr. Aminu Abubakar that on 27th day of May 2021, that the fraudulent Muhammed; who is currently at large, claimed that the 1st defendant was his friend and a staff of the National Assembly (NASS) Abuja, and promised to secure two job slots in Central Bank of Nigeria, for N4,000,000 each to any interested persons.
According to him, “The said Muhammed demanded a sum of N3,000,000 from the two petitioners, which was deposited into a Zenith Bank account with account number 1000765449 belonging to the 1st defendant.
“Investigation further revealed that on the 27th day of April, 2021, the 1st defendant further demanded the sum of N300,000 from each of the applicants for an alleged medical screening. The sum was transferred to an Access Bank account with account number 0090719034 belonging to Badraddin Mohammed.
“Following diligent investigations by the ICPC, the defendants were arraigned before Honourable Justice B.M. Bassi of the FCT High Court No.55 sitting at Asokoro.
Prosecuting counsel to the ICPC, Fatima Abdullahi Bardi, informed the court that the defendants were charged on a 5-count charge, bothering on the defendants’ corrupt act of alleged job scam to secure a job for the petitioners from the Federal Inland Revenue Service and the Central Bank of Nigeria.”
Count 1 was based on an offence contrary to section 1(1)(a) and punishable under section 1(3) of the Advance Fee Fraud and Other Fraud Related Offences Act 2006.
Counts 2 and 3 against the defendants relate to their contravention of Section 363 of the Act, which is punishable under Section 364 of the Penal Code.
The charges on Counts 2 and 3 highlighted the defendant’s conspiracy to forge a letter of employment dated June 28, 2021, tagged “Final Document List,” purportedly issued by the Central Bank of Nigeria, with the intent to extort money from Saifdeen Yakub and Aminu Abubakar.
Also, Counts 4 and 5 related to an offence contrary to section 363 and punishable under section 364 of the Penal Code, which highlighted a forged letter of employment dated 11th June 2021 in favour of one Mustapha Muhammad, purportedly from the FIRS.
Count 4 reads “That you Ibrahim Suleiman Umar(m), and Tijani Adam Goni(m) on or about June 2021 at Abuja within the jurisdiction of this Honorable Court conspired to forge letter of employment dated 11th June 2021 purportedly issued by Federal Inland Revenue Service in favor of one Mustapha Muhammad and you thereby committed an offense contrary to section 363 and punishable under section 364 of Penal Code.”
Pursuant to Section 270 of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act (ACJA) 2015, which stipulates the terms for Plea Negotiations, the Defendants pleaded guilty to a lesser charge in addition to mandatorily refunding the sum of N4.8million into the ICPC Recovery Account.
Furthermore, the defendants pleaded guilty to the amended 1-count charge of making false statements, contrary to Section 25 of the Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Act, 2000, on October 29, 2025. They were sentenced to pay a fine of N100,000 (One Hundred Thousand Naira) each, after making the full payment into the Commission’s recovery account.
