Justice Aisha Kumaliya of the Borno State High Court, Maiduguri, on Wednesday, August 6, 2025, convicted and sentenced Kalthum Mustapha to three years imprisonment for fraud.
Kalthum was initially arraigned on Monday, May 13, 2024, on a one-count charge of cheating involving the sum of N1,350,000 (One Million Three Hundred and Fifty Thousand Naira).
The charge stated:
“That you, Kalthum Mustapha, sometime in June 2022 at Maiduguri within the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court, dishonestly induced Muhammad Lawan Sani, Abubakar Umar, and Yusuf Jafar to deliver to you the sum of N1,350,000 for the supply of ready-to-use Therapeutic Food (RUTF), also known as tammua packages, which you have failed to supply or pay for, thereby committing an offence contrary to Section 320(a) and punishable under Section 322 of the Penal Code Cap 102 Laws of Borno State.”
Kalthum pleaded not guilty. During the trial, prosecution counsel Mukhtar Ali Ahmed and Faruku Muhammad presented witnesses and tendered multiple documents as evidence.
In her judgment, Justice Kumaliya convicted Kalthum and sentenced her to three years imprisonment, with an option to pay a fine of N50,000. In default of payment, she will serve six months in jail.
Additionally, the court ordered Kalthum to pay N635,000 to her victims or face an additional two years imprisonment.
The conviction followed Kalthum’s arrest for obtaining N1,350,000 from the victims for the supply of RUTF food packages, which she neither delivered nor refunded.
