By Modupe Gbadeyanka
An ex-Polaris Bank staff, Ms Hannatu Nuhu, has been convicted by Justice Umaru Fadawu of the Borno State High Court sitting in Maiduguri, the state capital.
The former banker was found guilty of stealing money belonging to a customer of the financial institution, according to the suit filed by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
The convict was arraigned in on Monday, June 21, 2021, on an amended one-count charge bordering on criminal misappropriation to the tune of N500,000, which she pleaded guilty to.
She was said to have taken the money to invest in “Galaxy Transportation and Construction Limited while she was a staff of Polaris bank without the consent of the customer,” according to a prosecution witness, Mr Lawal Oladipo, an operative of the EFCC.
“That you Hannatu Nuhu, sometime in 2019 at Maiduguri, Borno State within the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court, did dishonesty misappropriate the gross sum of N500,000 and thereby committed an offence contrary to section 308 of the Penal Code Cap 102 Laws of Borno State of Nigeria and punishable under Section 309 of the same law,” the charge read.
The prosecution counsel, Mukhtar Ali Ahmed, tendered some documents in evidence and urged the court to convict and sentence the defendant accordingly and on June 22, 2021, when the hearing resumed, Justice Fadawu said the prosecution has proved its case beyond a reasonable doubt; and convicted the defendant as charged.
The judge sentenced her to one year imprisonment and ordered that the sentencing be served consecutively, but gave her an “option of fine” in the sum of N250,000.
Dipo Olowookere 
Aduragbemi Omiyale