Court jails civil servant for breach of official trust

A Wuse Zone 2 magistrate’s court, Abuja, on Tuesday sentenced a 33-year-old civil servant to a year’s imprisonment for breach of official trust.

The convict, Aminu Maru, who resides in Janyan House, opposite Gwagwalada park, Area 1, Abuja, pleaded guilty to the one count charge of breach of official trust and begged for mercy.

The magistrate, Mr Raphael Egbe, in his judgement said the court relied on the provision of Section 99B of the Penal Code to sentence the convict.

Egbe, who told the convict to be of good behaviour and not go back to crime, however, gave him an option of N100,000.

The prosecutor, Mr Jamil Hamisu, had told the court that investigation by the State Security Service (SSS) revealed that Maru committed the offence between November 15 and November 21, 2017.

Hamisu said the convict was an accountant attached to the office of the Accountant-General of the Federation (OAGF) but seconded to the National Hajj Commission of Nigeria (NAHCON).

He further told the court that Maru released sensitive official documents of NAHCON to one Ibrahim Wala, a self-acclaimed Human Rights without authority to do so.

Hamisu said Wala later published the NAHCON documents on Facebook, an act Hamisu said was intended to discredit the management of the commission.

According to the prosecutor, the action of the convict was also calculated to damage the good public image of NAHCON and make its members of staff vulnerable to security risk.

He said the offence committed by the convict contravened Section 98 and is punishable under section 99B of the Penal Code. (NAN) activist