Court convicts former NDDC special adviser of N2.8bn fraud

A Federal High Court sitting in Port Harcourt has convicted and sentenced George Turnah and two others to six years imprisonment on fraud charges.

Turnah was Special Adviser on Youth to Dan Abia, the former Managing Director of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC).

Turnah, Ebis Orubebe, and Uzorgor Silas-Chidebere were arraigned by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) in May 2017 on a six-count charge of obtaining N2,894,500,000 (two billion, eight hundred and ninety-four million, five hundred thousand) under false presence, money laundering, conversion of funds, and forgery contrary to the Advance Fee Fraud and Other Fraud Related Offences Act, 2006, punishable under Section 1 subsection 3 of the act.

It was reported that the trial judge, Justice Abubakar Turaki-Mohammed, in his judgement found the accused guilty of the charges preferred against them by the Port Harcourt Zonal Command of EFCC.

Justice Turaki-Mohammed convicted and sentenced them to two years imprisonment each, making it a total of six years, starting from the date of their arrest.

He, however, gave them the option of a fine, ordering the first defendant to pay one million naira and the second and third defendants to pay N500,000 each into the consolidated Revenue Account of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.