By Jerry Uwah
Lagos
A man named Anthony Okoro was on Thursday sentenced to a jail term of four years without an option of fine for falsely parading himself as an operative of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency.
Okoro was convicted by Justice B. Kuewumi of a Federal High Court in Lagos.
His sentence to prison came shortly after he pleaded guilty to one count bordering on impersonation.
The NDLEA prosecutor, Mr. Fingere Dinneys, had told the court that Anthony was nabbed sometime in December 2013 around Alaba Primary School, Alaba, Lagos, where he was falsely parading himself as a Deputy Superintendent of Narcotics with the NDLEA.
The convict was said to have been found in possession of fake NDLEA letterhead papers, a fake letter of employment and a fake letter of compensation.The NDLEA charged him with the offence of “unlawful assumption of name, character and designation of an officer of the NDLEA”, contrary to and punishable under Section 15 of the NDLEA Act Cap. N30, Laws of the Federation of Nigeria, 2004.
Okoro, who appeared in court on Thursday without any lawyer, was said to have been deceiving unsuspecting members of the public before he was apprehended.
The prosecutor, while reviewing the facts of the case, tendered the convict’s confessional statement and the exhibits recovered from him, such as fake NDLEA letterhead papers, a fake letter of employment and a fake letter of compensation, which Justice Kuewumi admitted in evidence against him.The judge said the prosecution proved its case beyond reasonable doubt.
Justice Kuewumi consequently sentenced him to four years imprisonment commencing from Thursday.
