Late Comptroller General's Private Lawyer Bags Seven Years Imprisonment

 

A legal practitioner named Umar Hussaini, who served as a private lawyer to the late Comptroller General of Nigeria Customs Service, Abdullahi Dikko, has been sentenced to seven years imprisonment by a Federal High Court in Abuja. The court, presided over by Justice Ijeoma Ojukwu, found Hussaini guilty of a two-count charge brought against him by the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) in a case marked FHC/ABJ/CR/74/2020. The ICPC had also charged Dikko and Garba Makarfi, a former Assistant Comptroller-General of Customs.

Despite having four wives, children, and aging parents, the convict pleaded with the court to show him mercy. His lawyer, Naziru Umar, requested that Hussaini be given an option of paying a fine instead of serving a prison sentence. However, the ICPC lawyer, Olubunmi Ikupolati, urged the court to convict Hussaini and order him to pay restitution for the funds he had stolen.

Justice Ojukwu ordered Hussaini to serve seven years imprisonment on each count or pay a fine of N50 million on each count. Additionally, the convict was ordered to pay N100 million as compensation to the victims of the crime, Yemi Obadeyi and Cambial Limited. Hussaini will remain in prison until he fulfills the terms of the fine. The judgment was delivered in the face of the ongoing civil case involving the convict at the FCT High Court, with Hussaini's lawyer arguing that convicting him for restitution would constitute double jeopardy.