The Ilorin Zonal Directorate of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) secured a significant victory on Monday, September 22, 2025, as Mr. Goni Yilkan, a former legislative aide and banker from Nguru, Yobe State, was sentenced to eight years in prison for defrauding jobseekers of N120.5 million.
Justice F. E. Messiri of the Federal Capital Territory High Court in Jabi, Abuja, delivered the verdict, convicting Yilkan on two counts of obtaining money by false pretence under Section 1(1)(a) of the Advance Fee Fraud and Other Related Offences Act, 2006.
Yilkan, arraigned alongside Mohammed Adamu in October 2023, was found guilty of deceiving Mrs. Hindatu Bello between January 2020 and December 2021 by falsely claiming he could secure employment slots in prestigious government agencies, including the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), and Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC).
Bello, acting on Yilkan’s assurances, collected N120,580,550 from over 60 jobseekers, which she remitted to the convict.
The promised jobs never materialized, leading Bello to petition the EFCC for redress.One of the charges against Yilkan read: “That you, Mohammed Goni Yilkan, Mohammed Adamu and others at large between 3rd January 2020 and December 2021 in Abuja… obtained the sum of N120,580,550 from Mrs. Hindatu Bello under the false pretence that you had the capacity to secure jobs… which pretence you knew to be false, contrary to Section 1(1)(a) of the Advance Fee Fraud Act, 2006.”
During the trial, EFCC prosecutor Cosmas Ugwu presented six witnesses and documentary evidence, while the defense, led by J.A. Oguche, called two witnesses, including Yilkan.
Justice Messiri ruled that the prosecution had proven its case beyond reasonable doubt, convicting Yilkan but acquitting Adamu.
The judge imposed an eight-year prison sentence without the option of a fine, emphasizing the severity of exploiting desperate jobseekers.
Yilkan’s scheme unraveled after he collected the funds under the guise of offering employment, neither delivering the jobs nor refunding the money.
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