Justice A.O. Otaluka of the FCT High Court, sitting in Apo on Wednesday, March 27, 2019, sentenced one Clement Joseph, a.k.a Dr Omale to 97 years prison term with no option of fine.
He was first arraigned by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on March 7, 2017 on a seven-count charge, bordering on conspiracy and obtaining money by false pretence to the tune of N5, 600, 000 (Five Million Six Million Naira) only.
He was sentenced to seven years imprisonment on the conspiracy charge and 15 years each on the rest of the six charges, totalling 97 years. The prison terms run concurrently, and he will, however, serve only 13 years, having been in custody for two years.
The convict is also to make N5.6million (Five Million, Six Hundred Thousand) restitution to his victim, one Bola Akintola, following a plea by the prosecuting counsel Elizabeth Joseph.
The convict had defrauded Akintola of the said sum on the false pretence of having mystical power to deliver her from untimely death.
From nationalhelm
Politicians should be given 1000 yrs till Christ comes.
ReplyDeleteAnd political thieves are walking free? Nigeria's justice system is a joke.
DeleteI don't understand o, he's to pay back 5.6M and still serve 97 years prison term? For what reason?
ReplyDeleteWas the said Akintola obtained at gun point? Nonsense and ingredient.
'The prison terms run concurrently, and he will, however, serve only 13 years.'
DeleteEndeavour to read through before commenting.
Anon 9:47. People hardly read here oh. They run with the headline.
DeleteWhat rubbish!!! And thieves in the name of politicians are walking free
ReplyDeleteSmall money and they are jailing him like this when its not billions😁😁😁😁
ReplyDeleteLol @ small money...
DeleteInjustice to the common man on the street. While politicians who loots billions are discharged and acquitted at the end. Which way forward?
ReplyDeleteMay God keep him alive up to 97 years.
ReplyDeleteOk
ReplyDeleteRubbish!
ReplyDeleteThis Is Nigeria.Na life time imprisonment be this oooo
ReplyDeletePlease people, use your brains, please prove theworld wrong that not just olodo full from this place. He will only spend 13 years, run concurrently, there lies the key.
ReplyDeleteTafa Balogun defrauded the police fund of 17 billion Naira and was given just 6 months.
ReplyDeleteAnyway that was OBJ's time when polithieves used to go to jail courtesy of Ribadu.
Today, they steal as much as they can transfer out and receive chieftaincy titles.
The Nigerian law is a joke!
Stellz, let me explain this. The convict was charged on a 7 count charge bordering on conspiracy and obtaining money under false pretence to the tune of N5.6M. According to the writeup it appears count 1 was on conspiracy to commit a felony which carries a penalty of 7 years imprisonment, while counts 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7 was on obtaining money under false pretence which carries a penalty of 15 years imprisonment. That is 6 counts multipled by 15 years which is a total of 90 years. If you add the 7 years for the conspiracy, it amounts to 97 years.
ReplyDeleteIn Nigeria, most courts use the concurrent term of imprisonment instead of the consecutive term of imprisonment. The former means the sentence on each count of the charge will run at the same time, while the latter means the sentence on each count of the charge will run one after the other, so after the 15 years for count 2, he will start another 15 years for count 3 until he serves the complete 90 years. Since his sentence is to run concurrently, he will serve only 15 years since each count carries 15 years, instead of 90 years. Since he had been in custody for 2 years, the 2 years was deducted from the 15 years, which reduces his sentence to 13 years. I'm not sure why the 7 years for conspiracy wasn't included, that would have been 20 years.
I guess he was charged under the Advanced Fee Fraud Act instead of the Criminal code. Obtaining money under false pretence under section 419 of the criminal code carries a 3 year prison term. Well since it's the EFCC, they are known for going for the jugular. If you don't understand the practice and procedures of our criminal law, the post can be misleading.
What a good explanation. Thanks
DeleteE no steal enough money for SAN(S) representation and E no get connections like the big thieves, dem FFK, Baguda, Patience Jonathan, Babachir Lawal and the rest wey still dey drag matter, enjoy freedom and life at the same time.
ReplyDeleteOga the law, nawaa for you o. Hope you declared all you assets, cos what goes around comes around. Our politicians take note of this judge,let him not handle una case
ReplyDeleteYet in 2013, Mr Yusuf who admitted to stealing N24B police fund was given an option of 2 years in jail or N750k fine. Take a wild guess. Then another Judge ruled he should return N22B, and serve 6yrs jail time, the 2nd Judge was suspended for "corrupt" judgement and is under investigation for alleged bribery in the sum of the "missing" N2B. Our legal system is a big joke
ReplyDelete