“Joblessness pushed us into stealing”
Three middle-aged men yesterday told an Abuja Magistrate’ Court that they took to stealing after it became difficult for them to secure jobs for a long time.
Jacob Philemon, Ibrahim Buba, John Pwala and Yakubu Hassan all of Maitama, were arraigned before the court for joint act and theft but Ibrahim Buba denied the charge while the rest pleaded guilty.
Prosecutor Monday Akor told the court that the accused persons jointly stole granite blue & green pails valued at N578,000, granite wave (20 pieces) valued at Nl51,200 and 10 cartons of tiles valued at N44,800, all totaling N774,000.
He said they loaded the stolen items in a Golf car and confessed during police investigation that they sold the items to one Isah Ibrahim of Jabi, Abuja.
When the charges were read to the accused persons, three of them that pleaded guilty faulted the figures given by the police and appealed for leniency, vowing never to engage in crime again.
Magistrate Aminu Abdullahi sentenced Jacob, John and Yakubu to two months imprisonments without fine options, while Ibrahim, who denied the charges was granted bail in the sum of N200,000 with two sureties in like sum.
The magistrate also ruled that one of the sureties must be a civil servant of not below grade level 06 and that the two must reside within the court’s jurisdiction.
to March 1 for hearing.
Daily Trust Friday, January 21st 2011
Page 52
By Hussein Yahaya & Roseline Ogunsipe
