Less than 24 hours after an Abuja High Court sentenced Pension Thief John Yakubu Yusuf to two years in prison for admitting to stealing around N2 billion, an Ikare Magistrate Court in Ondo State has sentenced another man to three years in prison for stealing a telephone handset worth N17, 000.
The Abuja court had on Monday sentenced the former director of the Police Pension Board , John Yakubu Yusuf, to two-year imprisonment.
Mr. Yusuf pleaded guilty to two-count charges of embezzling about N2 billion of the total N33 billion stolen from police pensions. He was, however, given an option of fine of N250, 000 instead of going to jail.
Adepoju Jamiu, 23, living in Ondo was not so lucky. On Tuesday, the Ikare Magistrate Court sentenced him to three years imprisonment for stealing a China Blackberry phone worth N17, 000. Like pension thief Yusuf, Mr. Jamiu also pleaded guilty to the charge.
If the ratio of years of sentence was relative to the amount stolen and the same law was used to try both men, should Mr. Jamiu be jailed 3 years, Mr., Yusuf would have been sentenced to at least 110,000 years in jail.
Not only was Mr. Jamiu given a seemingly incomparable jail sentence, he was not given an option of fine by Chief Magistrate Sunday Adeniyan.
Mr. Jamiu’s crime, the police prosecutor, Aigbojie Amileomen, told the court that the stolen phone belonged to one Suleiman Asimiyi.
While briefing the court on the case, the prosecutor said the accused committed the offence in November 2012 at about 5.30 a.m. at Olukare Central Mosque, Inu Odi, Okela, Ikare.
When the case was read, the accused pleaded guilty as charged. Mr. Adeniyan convicted Mr. Jamiu having found him guilty.
He said Mr. Jamiu’s action violated Section 383(1) and punished him under Section 390(9)of the Criminal Code Cap 37, volume one, laws of Ondo State of Nigeria, 2006.
He therefore ordered that Mr. Jamiu should remain in prison for three years without an option of fine.
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