A Borno State High Court sitting in Maiduguri has sentenced Bukar Umar Alhaji to two years’ imprisonment for criminal misappropriation involving N2.1 million.

Justice Muhammad Maina delivered the judgment on 14 November 2025.

Alhaji was arraigned by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on 27 November 2024 on two counts bordering on obtaining by false pretense and misappropriation.

He had pleaded not guilty, prompting a full trial.

EFCC counsel Faruku Muhammad presented six witnesses and four exhibits to establish that Alhaji, alongside an accomplice still at large, fraudulently collected money from Ibrahim Isma’il in March 2022 for two plots of land in Mafa that he had no ownership of.

The court found him guilty of criminal misappropriation and sentenced him to two years’ imprisonment, with an option of a N200,000 fine.

Justice Maina also ordered Alhaji to refund N750,000 to the victim as part of the remaining balance.

The case stemmed from Alhaji’s sale of land that did not belong to him and his refusal to refund the funds after the fraud was uncovered.