Three whistleblowers, Lawal Umar, a 45-year-old property agent; Alexander Danjuma, a 43-year-old mechanic and Theophilus Omambala, a 47-year-old engineer have been sentenced to three months imprisonment by Justice O.A. Musa of the Federal Capital Territory High Court, Bwari, Abuja, Thursday, for giving false information to operatives of the Abuja Zonal Office of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC.
The defendants allegedly gave false whistle-blowing information to operatives of the EFCC that monies were stashed in the residence of one Audu Innocent Ogbe located at Lugbe, a suburb of Abuja.
They had pleaded ‘not guilty’ upon arraignment. However, at today’s hearing, the defendants changed their pleas to ‘guilty’, having entered a plea agreement with the prosecution.
Consequently, the prosecution counsel, Aliyu Bokani Usman urged the court to convict and sentence the defendants.
However, defense counsel A.I. Na-Jirgi prayed the court to temper justice with mercy, stating that the convicts were first-time offenders and had become remorseful.
Justice Musa sentenced them to three months imprisonment with the option of N50, 000 (Fifty Thousand Naira) fine each.
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