Varsity Don Professor Bukar Babab Bags 5-Year Jail-term For Fraud

A prominent don at the University of Maiduguri, Borno State, Professor Bukar Bababe, has been handed a five-year sentence after a Maiduguri High Court judge found him guilty of multiple counts charges bordering on high-level fraud.

Bababe, a former executive director of the Lake Chad Research Institute, is to serve his jail-term without an option of fine, as the crime for which he was jailed contravenes Section 19 of the Corrupt Practices and other related Offences Act 2000.

The Independent Corrupt Practices Commission (ICPC) had, in 2011, arraigned Bababe and the institute’s acting head of accounts, Janada Mshelia, on an eight-count charge before Justice Charity Mamza of High Court No 8, Maiduguri.

The duo were accused of “conspiring to make false statements to the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Maiduguri branch, between December 2008 and January 2009, claiming that a certain company, Hammadeen Nigeria Limited was entitled to the payment of the sum of N25,000,000 as payment for a capital project, which the said company did not execute”.

They were also accused of a similar fraud between December 2008 and January 2009, during which they conspired to make false statement to the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Maiduguri branch that another company, Rofako International Limited, was entitled to the payment of the sum N20, 500,000 as payment for a capital project, which the said company did not undertake.

Other charges are that “the former Executive Director of the Lake Chad Research Institute Maiduguri used his position to confer an unfair advantage upon his son, Adam Bukar Bababe, by approving the renewal of a retainership contract for the maintenance and servicing of the Institute’s computers to Cyber Technologies Nigeria Limited, a company mainly owned by his son”.

Bababe further contravened the anti-graft law by approving the award of a contract for his son for the purpose of upgrading of computers and printer sets to Cyber Technologies Nigeria Limited sometime in August 2010 as chairman of [the] institute’s procurement planning committee.

Another charge against the don was that, sometime in July 2007, Bababe used his position to pay himself the sum of N525,000 as his first twenty-eight day allowance in lieu of accommodation while residing at an official residence within the university.

Justice Mamza, in her ruling, pointed out that while Professor Bababe and Janada were to pay the sum of N100,000 each as cumulative fine for the four-count charges, Bababe is to serve a five-year jail-term to run concurrently for the fifth, sixth and seventh charges levelled against him.

 

Source: Leadership