Justice Hassan Usman of the Kebbi State High Court, Birnin Kebbi, has convicted and sentenced a former academic staff member of Waziri Umaru Federal Polytechnic, Kebbi State, Muhammed Sani Nuhu, to five years imprisonment for deviously allotting over six million naira (N6m) belonging to the polytechnic to himself.
Muhammed Nuhu was arraigned by Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission, ICPC, on four count charges, an offence he pleaded not guilty to when he was confronted with the facts.
The Commission stated that Nuhu, conferred a corrupt advantage on himself when he converted into personal use the sums of “two million Naira (N2,000,000:00) in 2015 and four million, one hundred and seventy-three thousand, four hundred Naira (N4,173,400:00) in 2016.”
It was revealed that Nuhu, a dismissed academic staff member of the polytechnic, received the monies under a special grant offered to him to attend an international conference in Aberdeen, United Kingdom, and the first tranche of payment advanced to him for the Doctor of Philosophy programme at the University of Technology Malaysia, respectively.
In charge No. KB/HC/4C/2020, counsel to the ICPC, Mashkur Salisu, was said to have told the court in a two-year trial that the convict refused to embark on the said programme and converted the money to his personal use.
His action was contrary to and punishable under Section 19 of the Corrupt Practises and Other Related Offences Act, 2000, as well as Section 311 of the Penal Code, and punishable under Section 312 of the Penal Code Law (Cap 89) Laws of Northern Nigeria, 1963.
The trial judge found the former poly lecturer guilty on counts one to three and dismissed count four leveled against him.
Justice Usman, however, sentenced him to five years imprisonment on each of the three counts.
The court also held that the convict should make restitution of the sum of N6.5m million, which was the proceeds of the crime, to the Federal Government. The sentences are to run concurrently.
