A former academic staff member of Waziri Umaru Federal Polytechnic in Kebbi State, Muhammed Sani Nuhu, has been sentenced to five years imprisonment for converting over N6 million into his personal use from the polytechnic’s funds.
The Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) secured Nuhu’s four-count conviction. In the charge sheet, brought before Justice Hassan Usman of the Kebbi State High Court, the ICPC noted that Nuhu conferred corrupt advantages on himself by diverting and misappropriating the sums of N2,000,000 in 2015 and N4,173,400 in 2016.
Nuhu allegedly converted to his personal use funds meant for special grants offered him to attend an international conference in Aberdeen, UK, as well as the first tranche of payment for his PhD programme in the University of Technology, Malaysia. The former lecturer notoriously declined to enrol for the PhD programme and diverted the sum to himself.
During the two-year trial, ICPC’s counsel, Mashkur Salisu, alleged that Nuhu’s action contravened Section 19 of the Corrupt Practises and Other Related Offences Act and Section 311 of the Penal Code, respectively.
In all, the court found Nuhu guilty on counts one through three and dismissed count four. Justice Usman, in his verdict, gave Nuhu a five-year jail term on each of the charges. He also mandated the convict to restitute N6.5 million, which was the proceeds of the crime, to the Federal Government.
