A sitting Nigerian state Lawmaker belonging to the Zamfara State House of Assembly has been sentenced to Prison for fraud.
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Lawali Gogonkade was sentenced to four years in prison with an option of fine after pleading guilty to charges of N31m fraud brought against him by the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC).
Hon. Gogonkade was arraigned before a Zamfara State High Court sitting in Gusau on Thursday on four counts bordering on corrupt practices to which he pleaded guilty; he was convicted and sentenced by Justice Bello Shinkafi.
Until his conviction, Hon Gogonkade represented the Kaura-Namoda council area in the state House of Assembly.
According to the ICPC through its spokesperson, Mrs. Rasheedat Okoduwa, the state lawmaker was accused of using his position to give himself a contract worth N31m meant for the supply of medical equipment to the state government.
The ICPC said such act violated sections 10, 12 and 19 of the Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Act, 2000.
Counsel for the ICPC, Mashkur Salisu, informed the court that the state lawmaker received N4.5m from the Managing Director of Madaci Pharmacy, Mr. Hamisu Jibril, as a percentage of the sum of a contract awarded by the state government for the supply of medical equipment.
The commission said further that counsel to the lawmaker, Abubakar Junaidu, had initially argued on the propriety of the charge before the court, saying that the accused had been already been arraigned before the Federal High Court in Gusau by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
He was however overruled by the Judge after which his client entered a guilty plea.
The ICPC said;
“Junaidu then pleaded with the court to be lenient with his client considering the fact that he was a first time offender with a large family and dependants, who rely on him solely for their livelihood. Following his guilty plea, the ICPC counsel invited the court to convict him in line with the provisions of Section 274 (2) of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act, 2015.”
The judge was however lenient in sentencing as he gave the state lawmaker an option of N30,000 fine for each count of fraud brought against him by the EFCC or Four years imprisonment.