An Oyo state Chief Magistrate’s Court sitting in Ogbomoso Thursday sentenced an ex-parliamentarian, Dr. Folaranmi Oyebamiji, to 16 months imprisonment.
Oyebamiji was found guilty of offences of conspiracy, false publication, forgery, threat to murder an Oko town High Chief and his households, as well as conduct likely to cause breach of the peace.
Chief Magistrate Muedeen Salami however granted the convict a fine of N500,000 in lieu of the sentence.
In his 90 minutes judgment, the chief magistrate sentenced the convict to six months imprisonment on count of conspiracy with option of N150,000; three months for count 2 of false publication/defamation with fine of N150,000; six months for the offence of forgery with option of fine of N100,000 and one month for the offence of threat to murder with a fine of N100,000.
The sentence was to run concurrently, the Chief Magistrate ordered.
In his allocutus, Oyebamiji’s lawyer, Niran Ojekale, pleaded for leniency, saying that: “I apply to the magnanimity of the court to temper justice with mercy. All along the proceedings, the convict had suffered greatly by having to be remanded in police custody. He is a family man whose dependants will suffer greatly if he is thrown into the Correctional Centre. He has children still schooling, and he is a political figure. I shall be praying the court to award an option of fine as there is no record of his being a convict before”.
Chief Magistrate Salami in his judgment sentenced the former parliamentarian to 16 months imprisonment with an option of N500,000.
The convict was subsequently whisked to the Abolongo Correctional Centre in Oyo Town pending when he could settle the awarded option of fine.
