Yunus Ali and Salawudeen Abdul Hafeez
The Damongo Circuit Court, presided over by His Honour Livingstone Lartey Yao Ameevor, has sentenced two Nigerian nationals and a Ghanaian accomplice for obtaining Ghanaian identity documents and attempting to use them to secure Ghanaian passports.
The accused persons are Yunus Ali, 47, and Salawudeen Abdul Hafeez, 42, both Nigerian nationals, and 50-year-old Ghanaian Abdul Hameed.
The accused persons, Yunus Ali and Salawudeen, were charged on three counts; providing false information to officials of the National Identification Authority (NIA) contrary to Section 40(1)(a) of the NIA Act, 2008 (Act 750); obtaining ECOWAS cards by false pretences contrary to Section 131 of the Criminal Offences Act (Act 29); and possession of forged birth certificates contrary to Section 166 of Act 29. They pleaded guilty to all counts.
According to the court, the accused persons consulted an intermediary in Nigeria, identified as Alhaji Tajudeen, who charged them N1.3 million (about GH¢10,589) and directed them to an agent, Alhaji Wasiw in Aflao.
The accused persons arrived in Ghana in January 2026, and were assisted to obtain birth certificates and Ghana Cards, and subsequently met Abdul Hameed in Damongo. Hameed initiated online passport applications for them and arranged for them to meet an immigration officer at the Damongo passport office. Verification checks later established that they were not Ghanaian citizens, and they were arrested.
The accused persons were fined 250 penalty units each (GH¢3,000) on Count 1, with six months’ imprisonment in default.
They were also sentenced to three years’ imprisonment on Count 2 and four years’ imprisonment on Count 3.
Also, the court ordered that the accused persons be deported to Nigeria after serving their sentences.
Abdul Hameed pleaded guilty to abetting and aiding the two men in applying for passports using forged documents.
He was fined 500 penalty units (GH¢6,000) or, in default, six months’ imprisonment.
Counsel for the accused pleaded for leniency, but the presiding judge stressed the need for deterrence, warning that the rule of law would be undermined if offenders were not firmly sanctioned.
The court said the sentences should serve as a warning to others who might attempt similar offences.
FROM Eric Kombat, Damongo