Former Nigerian Army General, Umar Mohammed, Found Guilty Of N1.65bn & $2.09m Fraud

<h4>Former Nigerian Army General&comma; Umar Mohammed&comma; Found Guilty Of N1&period;65bn &amp&semi; &dollar;2&period;09m Fraud<&sol;h4>&NewLine;<p>&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><strong><a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;openlife&period;ng&sol;">OpenLife<&sol;a><&sol;strong> reports that a three-member panel of Justices of the Court of Appeal&comma; Justice Abba Mohammed&comma; Okon Abang and Eberechi Nyesom have affirmed the conviction and sentence of former Group Managing Director of Nigerian Army Properties Limited &lpar;NAPL&rpar;&comma; Maj&period;-Gen&period; Umar Mohammed&comma; for offences bordering on theft and misappropriation of company funds&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>In a unanimous ruling&comma; the appellate court dismissed Mohammed’s appeal challenging the authority of the Nigerian Army’s Special Court Martial and the legitimacy of its decision&period; The Court Martial had on October 10&comma; 2023 convicted him for offences of stealing and criminal misappropriation of funds belonging to NAPL&period; The court also sentenced him to years of imprisonment and ordered him to refund &dollar;2&comma;099&comma;700 and N1&period;65 billion to the NAPL&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Dissatisfied with the decision of the Court Martial&comma; he approached the appellate court&comma; claiming that the conviction was not supported by credible and sufficient evidence&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Delivering judgment on Monday&comma; the Court of Appeal affirmed the ruling of the Special Court Martial&comma; stressing that it was justified in dismissing the former general’s defence&comma; describing it as inconsistent and unreliable&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The appellate court addressed contradictions in Mohammed’s testimony&comma; particularly his claim that NAPL never operated berthing services&comma; which contradicted documentary records where he indicated that the company actually engaged in such operations&period; To this end&comma; the Court of Appeal upheld the conviction and sentence imposed by the Special Court Martial on all counts except those related to forgery&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>In another development&comma; in August 2025&comma; Justice Dehinde Dipeolu of the Federal High Court in Lagos ordered the final forfeiture of shares valued at more than N5 billion traced to Mohammed and a businessman&comma; Kayode Filani&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission &lpar;EFCC&rpar;&comma; had filed an application to the effect that 245&comma;568&comma;137 shares were acquired with proceeds of unlawful activities carried out during Mohammed’s time as head of the army’s property company&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>EFCC counsel&comma; Hanatu Kofanaisa&comma; told the court that the EFCC had satisfied all legal conditions required for final forfeiture&comma; including the mandatory publication in newspapers&comma; without any objections being raised&period; Besides&comma; she further told the court that a Special Court Martial had earlier convicted Mohammed on 14 out of 18 counts bordering on stealing and related offences&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Ruling on the application&comma; Justice Dipeolu held that the EFCC had sufficiently proved its case and ordered that the shares be permanently forfeited to the Federal Government in favour of NAPL&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;