Trending 
A Gombe State magistrate, Mohammad Suleiman Kumo, has been sentenced to two years and six months imprisonment for bribery by the Gombe High Court.
Kumo was initially arraigned on December 3, 2025, on three-count charges of bribery by the Gombe Zonal Directorate of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
The anti-graft commission, in a statement issued on Wednesday, narrated the series of events leading up to his conviction.
The Ministry of Justice in Gombe State alleged that one Abubakar Isa Jauro Kuna and Suleiman Haruna complained about Kumo regarding bribery. The convict was investigated, charged in court and eventually convicted.
Gombe Court Jails Magistrate for Bribery
Justice H.H. Kereng of the Gombe High Court sitting in Gombe, Gombe State has convicted and sentenced Mohammad Suleiman Kumo , a magistrate to two years and six months imprisonment for bribery.
Kumo was initially arraigned on December… pic.twitter.com/MEa2p9hGqL
— EFCC Nigeria (@officialEFCC) May 6, 2026
According to the EFCC, the magistrate, through his counsel, Adamu Bawa, had filed a preliminary objection challenging the jurisdiction of the court to try him as he was “a judicial officer who ought to be taken to the Judicial Service Commission ( JSC) for any wrongdoing if such exists”.
EFCC counsel, however, countered the motion, arguing that the defendant was a magistrate, not a judicial officer. The judge upheld the prosecution counsel’s submission in his ruling on February 17, 2026, on the matter of jurisdiction.
He was accused of collecting one million naira belonging to one Adamu Ahmed, an offence contrary to and punishable under Section 10(a)(i)(ii) of the Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Act 2000.
Kumo, however, pleaded not guilty to the charges when they were read to him. The EFCC added that his counsel informed the court that the defendant would like to change his plea from ” not guilty to guilty” at the resumed sitting on May 5, 2026. Kumo thereafter pleaded guilty.
“Following the guilty plea, the prosecution counsel stated that the prosecution had spent time and resources in the prosecution of the case before the change of plea. He urged the court to convict the defendant and order him, in addition to the sentence, to pay the sum of Five Hundred thousand Naira ( N500,000) as compensation to the commission,” the EFCC noted.
The judge also sentenced Kumo to two years and six months’ imprisonment, with an option of a fine of N250,000, and ordered him to pay N500,000 as compensation to the commission.
