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A Borno State High Court in Maiduguri has sentenced controversial activist Aisha Alkali Wakil — popularly called ‘Mama Boko Haram’ — and two of her NGO colleagues to 14 years in prison for their roles in a fraudulent N11 million contract scheme..CONTINUE FULL READING>>>>>
Aisha Wakil earned her moniker due to her deep connections with Boko Haram fighters, many of whom she claimed to know as children. For years, particularly during the administration of former President Muhammadu Buhari, she leveraged these relationships to mediate hostage negotiations, broker peace deals, and encourage militants to surrender their weapons. Her work garnered her both praise and controversy as violence in Northern Nigeria persisted.
The ruling, delivered on Wednesday by Justice Aisha Kumaliya, brings a harsh end to a five-year legal battle triggered after the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) arraigned Wakil, Tahiru Saidu Daura, and Prince Lawal Shoyode on September 14, 2020.
Wakil, Daura, and Shoyode — who held senior roles in the NGO Complete Care and Aids Foundation — were found guilty of conspiring to defraud businessman Muhammed Ambare in 2018 by posing as contractors supplying two units of X-ray Machine Model 1800. The contract, prosecutors proved, was fictitious.
“That you, Aisha Alkali Wakil, Tahiru Saidu Daura, Prince Lawal Shoyode, and Saidu Mukhtar (now at large), with intent to defraud, obtained N11,000,000.00… which you knew to be false…” read one of the charges.
EFCC spokesman Dele Oyewale, in a statement late Wednesday, confirmed the trio’s conviction on two counts of conspiracy and obtaining by false pretence. Each was handed two seven-year sentences to run concurrently — totaling 14 years behind bars.
They were also ordered to refund N8 million to the complainant or serve an extra seven years in jail.
A History of Fraud Convictions
According to records available to Neusroom, the latest conviction marks at least the seventh time she has been sentenced by a Nigerian court. In December last year, she and three of her associates were sentenced to five years in prison for crimes including cheating, conspiracy, and providing false information amounting to ₦6 million.
In June 2022, she was sentenced to five years imprisonment for her involvement in a ₦71.4 million fraud. In August 2022, she received another seven-year sentence for defrauding victims of ₦66 million. A month later, in September 2022, she was again jailed for seven years over ₦15 million fraud.
In December 2022, Wakil was sentenced to 10 years imprisonment in a ₦120.5 million fraud case. Earlier this year, in February 2024, she, along with her co-conspirators Daura and Shoyode, was sentenced to 10 years in prison for obtaining ₦40 million under false pretences.CONTINUE FULL READING>>>>>
