BREAKING; Doyin Okupe sentenced to two-year in Prison with an option
BREAKING; Doyin Okupe sentenced to two-year in Prison with an option
The Federal High Court sitting in Abuja, on Monday has sentenced a former Senior Special Assistant, SSA, on Media to ex-President Goodluck Jonathan, Dr Doyin Okupe, to two years in prison.
The court, in a judgement that was delivered by Justice Ijeoma Ojukwu, convicted Okupe who is the Director General of the Presidential Campaign Council of the Labour Party, LP, for acting in breach of the money laundering Act.
Though the defendant was found guilty on counts 34 to 59 of the charge the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, preferred against him, he was discharged and acquitted of counts 1 to 33 of the charge which bordered on corruption.
Whereas the defendant was handed two years on each of the 26 counts of the charge that he was found guilty of, the court, however, held that his sentence would run concurrently.
In the alternative, trial Justice Ojukwu held that Okupe could pay a fine of N500, 000, on each of the counts upon which he was convicted.
Even though the court said it would not make an order for the defendant to be kept in prison custody since his sentence was with the option of a fine, it however stressed that the fine must be paid before 4 pm on Monday.
Earlier before the sentence was passed, Okupe’s wife, Omolala, and his son, Adesunkanmi, took turns and pleaded with the court to temper justice with mercy.
Similarly, a former Governor of Anambra State, Chief Chukwuemeka Ezeife, urged the court to take cognizance of the fact that the defendant was a first-time offender.
