Two Nigerian men have appeared in court charged with 10 counts of conspiracy, fraud and forgery after they successfully obtained $44,700 in an elaborate confidence trick.
According to the prosecution, the men tricked the money out of construction boss Abdullahi Nabunkari, managing director of Jamali Trading & Construction Company, which is based in Sokoto State in the northwest of the country.
They did this, it is alleged, by pretending to represent the deputy governor of Gombe State, in northeast Nigeria, and luring Mr Nabunkari to visit the state to discuss a lucrative refurbishment contract.
The pair, Yusuf Usman and Sani Ahmed (pictured), are accused of taking the complainant to a local government building and asking him to price a contract to refurbish it.
He was then taken to the office of the real deputy governor, where he met a third man who claimed to be an official.
This man gave Nabunkari a contract award letter "on behalf of the deputy governor".
Nabunkari then signed the contract and paid the fraudsters $44,700 as a "processing fee", which he was told was necessary before the contract could come into force.
The two were arrested in early 2016 and appeared before the Federal High Court in Gombe on Wednesday last week. The case is being prosecuted by the state’s Economic and Financial Crimes Commission.
The case was adjourned to 30 January; the judge, Justice Umar, ordered that the accused persons be remanded in custody until then.
Image: The two accused have been waiting some time for their trial (Nairaland Forum)
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