July 26, 2007
Former Governor of Bayelsa State, Diepreye Solomon Alamieyeseigha, who was sentenced to 12 years imprisonment by a Federal High Court in Lagos yesterday for money laundering and corrupt enrichment, is to spend only two weeks in jail. Sources at the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) told P.M.News this morning that Alams will spend only two weeks in Ikoyi Prisons because he had already spent almost 18 months in detention in the course of his trial.
He was jailed two years on each of the six-count charge brought against him by the EFCC and since the jail term was to run concurrently, he would have spent only two years in jail.
Besides, since 9 months is equivalent to one calendar year in jail, Alams, who was arrested by EFCC operatives and whisked away to Abuja on 9 December 2005 shortly after he was impeached by the Bayelsa State House of Assembly, has already spent 17 months and two weeks in detention, and has just two weeks to remain in gaol.
Shortly before he was sentenced yesterday by the trial judge, Justice Mohammed Shuaibu, the former Air Force Chief, who spent 19 years in the force, said if he was much younger, he would not have pleaded guilty in exchange for the light sentence passed on him by the trial judge.
Alamieyeseigha also declared that he was never impeached and lambasted former President Olusegun Obasanjo for sending soldiers to overrun the Bayelsa State House of Assembly in the bid to remove him from office.
The former governor, who spoke in the open court minutes before he was jailed, also narrated his ordeal since he was arrested. “I have gone through the shadow of death. I have been through hell since I was arrested.”
He added that he was kept among mad people by the London Metropolitan police who arrested him in 2005 at Heathrow Airport and when he started bleeding inside the detention facility, he was sent back to Nigeria by the British authorities; insinuating that he never jumped bail as was widely reported by the media.
Given the plea-bargain he entered with EFCC, he will forfeit assets worth billions of naira. Some of the assets include Chelsea Hotel in Abuja, property in the United Kingdom, about 1.5 million British pound sterling stake in Santolina Investment Corporation in the United Kingdom, V8A Waterfront, Cape Town, South Africa, among others.
Counsel to EFCC, Mr. Rotimi Jacobs, in the course of yesterday’s trial, had urged Justice Shuaibu to order the forfeiture of Alamieyeseigha’s assets to the government in order that the commission would sell them and put the proceeds in a consolidated account which would accrue to the Bayelsa State government.
Consequently, the judge upheld Rotimi’s argument.
However, Chief T.J. Omonigbo Okpoko (SAN), counsel to Alamieyeseigha, in an allocutus before the court, pleaded leniency for his client.
According to him, “wether good or bad, right or wrong, the fact of the governor having served in public office should be taken into account by the trial judge.”
He was jailed two years on each of the six-count charge brought against him by the EFCC and since the jail term was to run concurrently, he would have spent only two years in jail.
Besides, since 9 months is equivalent to one calendar year in jail, Alams, who was arrested by EFCC operatives and whisked away to Abuja on 9 December 2005 shortly after he was impeached by the Bayelsa State House of Assembly, has already spent 17 months and two weeks in detention, and has just two weeks to remain in gaol.
Shortly before he was sentenced yesterday by the trial judge, Justice Mohammed Shuaibu, the former Air Force Chief, who spent 19 years in the force, said if he was much younger, he would not have pleaded guilty in exchange for the light sentence passed on him by the trial judge.
Alamieyeseigha also declared that he was never impeached and lambasted former President Olusegun Obasanjo for sending soldiers to overrun the Bayelsa State House of Assembly in the bid to remove him from office.
The former governor, who spoke in the open court minutes before he was jailed, also narrated his ordeal since he was arrested. “I have gone through the shadow of death. I have been through hell since I was arrested.”
He added that he was kept among mad people by the London Metropolitan police who arrested him in 2005 at Heathrow Airport and when he started bleeding inside the detention facility, he was sent back to Nigeria by the British authorities; insinuating that he never jumped bail as was widely reported by the media.
Given the plea-bargain he entered with EFCC, he will forfeit assets worth billions of naira. Some of the assets include Chelsea Hotel in Abuja, property in the United Kingdom, about 1.5 million British pound sterling stake in Santolina Investment Corporation in the United Kingdom, V8A Waterfront, Cape Town, South Africa, among others.
Counsel to EFCC, Mr. Rotimi Jacobs, in the course of yesterday’s trial, had urged Justice Shuaibu to order the forfeiture of Alamieyeseigha’s assets to the government in order that the commission would sell them and put the proceeds in a consolidated account which would accrue to the Bayelsa State government.
Consequently, the judge upheld Rotimi’s argument.
However, Chief T.J. Omonigbo Okpoko (SAN), counsel to Alamieyeseigha, in an allocutus before the court, pleaded leniency for his client.
According to him, “wether good or bad, right or wrong, the fact of the governor having served in public office should be taken into account by the trial judge.”
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