Court Jails Ex-Rector Of Nigerian Polytechnic Over Refusal To Appear Before Anti-graft Agency, ICPC

A former Rector of the Federal Polytechnic, Ogwashi-Uku, Delta State, Dr Edna Mogekwu, has been sentenced to a two-year, one-month jail term by the Delta State High Court, Asaba over his refusal to honour invitations on allegations of corruption from the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC).
In a statement issued by Azuka Ogugua, the ICPC Spokesperson and obtained by SaharaReporters on Monday, the former rector Mogekwu was sentenced alongside three principal officers of the institution after the commission arraigned them before Justice Marshal Umukoro, of the Delta State High Court, Asaba.

The convicted officers, according to the statement, allegedly refused to appear before investigators to clear themselves of allegations of corruption.
The other three officers who bagged a one-month prison term each are; a former Registrar, Collins Onyenwenu, a former Bursar, Andy Ughusuena and a former Director of Works of the Polytechnic, Joseph Idabor.
The ICPC had filed a 5-count charge against the principal officers of the institution before Justice Umukoro, in which it accused them of repeatedly refusing to honour invitations from the Commission.
“The offences, allegedly committed in 2015, also consists of their refusal to honour an order to produce documents required by investigators of the Commission, contrary to Section 28 (1) (b) of the Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Act, 2000 and punishable under Section 28 (10) of the same Act,” the statement noted.
“Justice Umukoro, at the conclusion of trial, found them guilty on four out of five counts and therefore sentenced the trio of the Registrar, Bursar and Director of Works to one-month imprisonment accordingly.
“The former rector was found guilty on counts one, two and three out of the five counts by the court.”
The judge ruled that Mogekwu would serve one year imprisonment for counts two and three and one month’s jail term for count one.
The sentences will run concurrently, the court ruled.

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