N1.65bn & $2.09m Fraud: Appeal Court Upholds Conviction of Ex-Army General Umar Mohammed

opeolumartinMarch 10, 2026March 10, 202603 mins

Lagos, March 10, 2026

A three-member panel of Justices of the Court of Appeal, comprising Justice Abba Mohammed, Okon Abang, and Eberechi Nyesom, has affirmed the conviction and sentence of former Group Managing Director of Nigerian Army Properties Limited (NAPL), Major-General Umar Mohammed, for offences related to theft and misappropriation of company funds.

In a unanimous ruling, the appellate court dismissed Mohammed’s appeal, which challenged both the authority of the Nigerian Army’s Special Court Martial and the legitimacy of its October 10, 2023 decision. The Court Martial had convicted him of stealing and criminal misappropriation of NAPL funds, sentencing him to several years of imprisonment and ordering him to refund $2,099,700 and N1.65 billion to the company.

Mohammed had approached the Court of Appeal, claiming that his conviction was not supported by credible or sufficient evidence. Delivering judgment on Monday, the appellate court affirmed the ruling of the Special Court Martial, noting that Mohammed’s defence was inconsistent and unreliable.

The court highlighted contradictions in Mohammed’s testimony, particularly his assertion that NAPL never operated berthing services, which was contradicted by company records indicating that such operations had occurred. Consequently, the Court of Appeal upheld the conviction and sentence on all counts except those related to forgery.

In a related development, in August 2025, Justice Dehinde Dipeolu of the Federal High Court, Lagos, ordered the final forfeiture of shares valued at over N5 billion traced to Mohammed and businessman Kayode Filani.

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) had filed an application asserting that 245,568,137 shares were acquired using proceeds from unlawful activities during Mohammed’s tenure as head of NAPL. EFCC counsel, Hanatu Kofanaisa, told the court that all legal conditions for final forfeiture, including mandatory publication in newspapers, were satisfied without objections.

Justice Dipeolu ruled that the EFCC had sufficiently proved its case, ordering that the shares be permanently forfeited to the Federal Government in favour of NAPL. This development underscores ongoing efforts by regulatory authorities to recover funds and assets misappropriated through criminal activities in key public institutions.