…to appeal against Mild Sentence
The Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) has secured the conviction of a former member of the House of Representatives, Honourable Salihu Ndanusa Dauda, a staff of the Federal Ministry of Water Resources, Mr. Nsa Oyok Edet and one Solomon Adukwu (now at large) at the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) High Court No 19 Jabi, Abuja for offences of making false statements, conspiracy and impersonation of public officers.
The three defendants had been charged before Justice D. Z. Senchi by ICPC on a 5-count charge of making false statement, conspiracy and impersonation thereby committing offences that contravene sections 25 and 26 of the Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Act 2000 and Section 132 of the Penal Code Act.
Details of the offences on which the defendants’ conviction was based revealed that Mr. Nsa on the instruction of and connivance with Hon Salihu, created a false case file which they claimed emanated from ICPC and presented it to the Director, FCT Treasury, Mr. Ibrahim Bomai with the aim of extorting money from him.
The false case file contained a petition and other financial documents allegedly belonging to the Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA), which indicated that FCTA received N18, billion from the Consolidated Revenue Account of the Federal Government and that Mr. Bomai and the former Minister of FCT, Mr. Bala Mohammed had shared the money between them.
Knowing that the allegations were false, Mr. Bomai lodged a complaint against the defendants which led to their being arrested and charged to court by ICPC.
For the five-count charge brought against the defendants, Justice Senchi sentenced them each to 6 months imprisonment or a fine of N50, 000 on each count for false statement and impersonation and 12 months imprisonment or a fine of N50, 000 each for conspiracy.
However, considering the mildness of the sentence imposed on the convicts, the Commission has concluded plans to file an appeal for stiffer punishment for the convicts.
Section 25 of the Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Act 2000 prescribed that a convict for making false statements is “… liable to a fine not exceeding One Hundred Thousand naira or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding two (2) years or to both such fine and imprisonment”.