A Maiduguri High Court has sentenced the former Executive Director of the Lake Chad Research Institute, Professor Bukar Bababe, to a five-year jail term without an option of fine.
A Maiduguri High Court has sentenced the former Executive Director of the Lake Chad Research Institute, Professor Bukar Bababe, to a five-year jail term without an option of fine.
The court found Mr. Bababe guilty of corrupt practices that contravened section 19 of the Corrupt Practices and other Related Offences Act 2000.
On April 14, 2011, the Independent Corrupt Practices Commission (ICPC) had arraigned the former executive director and the institute’s acting head of accounts, Janada Mshelia, on an eight-count charge before Justice Charity Mamza of the High Court in Maiduguri, the capital of Borno State. The two were accused of conspiring to make false statement to the Central Bank of Nigeria, Maiduguri branch, between December 2008 and January 2009 to the effect that Hammadeen Nigeria Limited was entitled to the sum of N25 million as payment for a capital project. The prosecutors said the beneficiary company had not executed the project for which it was paid.
The prosecution also stated that the accused, between December 2008 and January 2009, conspired to make a false statement to the Central Bank of Nigeria to the effect that another company, Rofako International Limited, was entitled to the payment of N22.5 million for an ostensible capital project.
Another charge was that the executive director of the institute used his position to confer an unfair advantage on his son, Adam Bukar Bababe, by approving the renewal of a retainership contract for the maintenance and servicing of the institute's computers. The institute awarded a contract to Cyber Technologies Nigeria Limited, a company mainly owned by the former executive director’s son.
Mr. Bababe, as chairman of a procurement planning committee, was also accused of approving the award of a contract to his son for the upgrading of computers and printers in August 2010. In addition, prosecutors showed that, in July 2007, the executive director paid himself five hundred and twenty-five thousand naira as first twenty-eight days allowance in lieu of accommodation while residing at an official residence at the University of Maiduguri. All the charges were punishable under sections 26 sub-section (1), C and 25 sub-section (1) b as well as section 19 of the Corrupt Practices and other Related Offences Act 2000.
The defendants’ counsel pleaded with the court for leniency since the accused were first time offenders, adding that they deserved to be given a second chance.
In her judgment, Justice Charity Mamza found the accused guilty. She ruled that they must pay N100,000 each as cumulative fines for the four-count charges while Mr. Bababe was also sentenced to serve a five-year jail term to run concurrently for the fifth, sixth and seventh charges against him.
The court struck out one count for lack of merit.
Counsel to the accused persons said he planned to file an appeal against the judgment.