A Federal Capital Territory (FCT) high court has sentenced a Superintendent of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), Mr. Solomon Ogodo to seven years in prison for his involvement in forgery, employment racketeering and fraud.
The Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) had in December 2022 arraigned Mr. Ogodo in charge No: CR/503/2022 before Justice M.S Idris of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) High Court, Jabi, Abuja for defrauding unsuspecting job seekers to the tune of N12,200,000.
Director of Public Enlightenment and Education/Spokesperson for the Commission, Demola Bakare revealed this in a statement on Tuesday, December 10, 2024.
In the 5-count charge, the Commission told the court how the convict, on different occasions, hoodwinked some members of the public into parting with different sums of money in the guise of securing employment for their relatives in the Nigeria Correctional Services (NCoS).
ICPC Prosecutor, Mr. Hamza Sani, had in the course of the trial led evidence before the court on how Ogodo forged offers of provisional appointments for some applicants into the Nigeria Correctional Services.
His actions are contrary to Section 13 and punishable under Section 68 of the Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Act 2000 and contrary to Section 363 and punishable under Section 364 of the Penal Code Act.
The actions also violated and are punishable under Section 1 of the Advanced Fee Fraud and Other Related Offence Act of 2006.
Shortly before the jail sentence was passed on Monday, December 9, Counsel for Ogodo, Mr. A. A Nwoye, who held brief for Mr. Osita O. Eze, urged the court to convert the jail term to community service for the convict.
The prosecution counsel on his part moved that the court should take cognizance of Section 319 (1) a of the Administration of Criminal Justice ACT (ACJA) 2015 to mandate the convict to pay compensation of all the sum collected to his victims.
Justice M.S. Idris in his judgement sentenced Ogodo to seven years imprisonment on counts 1 to 3 (without an option of fine) and two months’ imprisonment or option of fine of N5,000 on Count 4. The convict equally bagged two months’ imprisonment on Count 5 of the charge without an option of a fine.
The court also agreed with the submission of the prosecution brought under Section 319 (1) of ACJA by ordering the convict to restitute all he received from his victims in the course of his illegal action.
Linda Ikeji
