A 31-year old man, Kelvin Ighodalo, has been sentenced to 45 years in prison by an Osogbo High Court for stealing a phone belonging to the Osun State Governor, Rauf Aregbesola.
Ighodalo stole the phone, a Soy Ericsson estimated to be worth N50, 000 from Aregbesola’s pocket on November 27, 2010 during his inauguration at the Government Technical College, Osogbo.
The trial judge, Justice Oyejide Falola, found Ighodalo guilty on six counts: including conspiracy, stealing, fraud, impersonation, obtaining property by falsehood, and collusion.
The first three counts earned him 10 years in prison while he was given a five-year prison sentence for each of the last three counts.
Falola, who ruled that Ighodalo deserved the jail term as the convict used the phone to obtain N500, 000 from the Owa of Ilesa, Oba Adekunle Aromolaran, while he obtained N200, 000 from Mr Shengen Rahman, an associate of the governor.
The jail terms will run concurrently, meaning that Ighodalo will spend 10 years in total in prison.
Assistant principal state counsel, Mr Biodun Badiora, told the court that the convict had served six-year imprisonment in Ikoyi prison custody in connection with a murder case in 2005.
However, counsel to Ighodalo, Mr. Ameachi Ngwu, prayed the court to commit him to community service, stressing that the convict should not be incarcerated but rather be placed where people could see him as a convict.