Osun State Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, Mr. Wale
Afolabi, has justified the 10-year imprisonment of Kelvin Igha-Ighodalo, who
was convicted for stealing the phone of Governor Rauf Aregbesola on November
27, 2010.Afolabi, in a statement on Wednesday, accused the media of
sensationalising the verdict of an Osogbo High Court on the phone theft.
Information
Nigeria recalls that Justice Oyejide Falola had on Monday found Ighodalo (31)
guilty of a six-count charge and sentenced him to a total of 45 years jail term
but the convict would serve only 10-years as the sentence is to run
concurrently.
Afolabi
flayed the non-reflection of the concurrency of the term in some reports and
insisted that the stories should have reflected the 10-year jail term
pronounced by the judge
Afolabi said, “To say that Ighodalo was sentenced to 45
years prison term for stealing Aregbesola’s phone is not only misleading but
unduly sensationalising, unfair to the court and the criminal justice system.
“The
learned judge while sentencing Ighodalo exercised his discretion within the
limited space allowed by law to sentence him to 10 years term on each of the
first three counts instead of 20 years and five years each on the last three
counts instead of seven or 14 years.
“This,
the court must do with the accused having pleaded guilty and having accepted
the facts presented by the prosecution. He is, however, to spend 10 years as
the court has pronounced that the prison terms are to run concurrently.”
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