By Abdallah el-Kurebe, Editor
The Chairman of the Zamfara State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB), Murtala Adamu Jengebe has been sentenced to a cumulative jail term of 41 years by a five-man panel of the Court of Appeal sitting in Sokoto.
Presided over by Justice Hannatu Sankey, Jengebe was convicted by the court after the appellate court found him guilty on the seven out of the 10 counts for which he was earlier acquitted at the Federal High Court, Gusau, Zamfara State.
The earlier acquittal of the embattled Chairman by the Federal High Court was set aside in the lead judgment of the Appellate Court read by Justice Habeeb Abiru,
It held that the prosecution had proved beyond reasonable doubt seven of the ten counts of the money laundering charge brought against Jangebe by the EFCC, as a result of which he was consequently sentenced to five years imprisonment on each of four of the counts and seven years each on three other counts, respectively.
However, the Court ordered that the sentences shall run concurrently.
It would be recalled that on the 12th day of May 2017, the Federal High Court sitting in Gusau presided over by Justice Z.B Abubakar discharged and acquitted the convict on the 10 counts charge of Money Laundering but convicted him for engaging in private business while he was still in public service. An offence he was never charged for by the Commission.
Dissatisfied with the judgement of the lower court, the prosecution approached the Court Of Appeal seeking it to set aside the judgement of the lower court.
