Two brothers, Usman and Mohammed Adamu, were yesterday arraigned before a Kaduna State Magistrates’ Court over alleged N5.7 million land fraud. The Adamu brothers are facing charges of criminal conspiracy and fraud but pleaded not guilty to the offences.

Prosecuting counsel, Inspector Chidi Leo, told the court that the complainant, Buba Yusuf, reported the case at Gabasawa Police Station on October 20.

Leo said that in 2023, the defendants and one Alhaji Hassan Sani, who is now at large, approached Yusuf with an offer to sell him three plots of land at Malali, Kaduna. He alleged that the brothers collected N5.7 million under the pretext of selling the plots with fake offer documents for the grant or regrant of statutory right of occupancy.

“When the complainant went to the location, the real owner stopped him, and since then, all efforts to recover his money have failed,” the prosecutor told the court.

He added that the offence contravened provisions of the Kaduna State Penal Code, 2017. Magistrate Ibrahim Emmanuel granted the defendants bail in the sum of N500,000 each, with two reliable sureties in like sum.

He ordered that the sureties must be civil servants not below Grade Level 14 and reside within the court’s jurisdiction. The case was adjourned until November 24 for hearing.