By Charles Ayodele.
A Lugbe Grade 1 Area Court, Abuja, has sentenced a man, Isah Tafida to 17 months in prison for dishonestly parading himself as a police officer.
Tafida of 4th Avenue FHA Lugbe Abuja, was charged with impersonation, criminal breach of trust and cheating.
The Judge, Aliyu Kagarko handed down the sentence after Tafida pleaded guilty to a three-count charge leveled against him and begged the court for leniency.
Kagarko however, gave Tafida an option to pay a fine of N60,000.
He said that the punishment would have been stiffer if the convict had not saved the court the rigour of protracted prosecution.
The judge warned the convict to be of good behaviour and also ordered him to pay the complainant N56,000 as compensation or to serve 7 months imprisonment in lieu of the compensation.
The prosecutor, Mr Stanley Nwaforaku told the court that the complainants, Mr Celestine Mathew and Isaac Obadiah all of 4th Avenue FHA Lugbe Abuja reported the matter at the Lugbe Police Station on Sept.16.
Nwaforaku said that sometimes in September, the convict introduced himself as a police officer and presented an identity card with his name and passport photograph on it, to the complainant.
The prosecutor said that the convict deceived the complainants, that Nigeria Police Force was in the process of conducting a replacement recruitment, pledging to enlist them.
He told the court that the convict criminally and fraudulently collected N56,000, for police form, uniform and transportation to Ikeja police college Lagos from the complainants.
Nwaforaku said the convict collected the money and converted it to his personal use and refused to help the complainant get a job as he promised.
He said in the course of investigation, it was discovered that the convict was a dismissed police man.
He said that the convict made confessional statements during police investigations and a police identity card with his name and passport photograph on it was recovered from him.
Nwaforaku said that the offence contravened sections, 321, 322 and 179 of the Penal Code.
