Labourer bags 2 months imprisonment for extortion

On Tuesday, an Upper Area Court in Gwagwalada, FCT, sentenced a labourer, Nafu Ibrahim, to two months imprisonment for  extorting N5,000.

The Judge, Mr Sani Umar, sentenced Ibrahim, who pleaded guilty to a two-charge of extortion and resisting arrest.

Umar, however, gave him an option of N20, 000 fine.

”If you fail to pay the fine, you will serve a jail term of  two months,” the judge said.

Umar said that he showed mercy on Ibrahim because he was a first-time offender, remorseful and pleaded for leniency.

The judge said that extortion had become rampant in the area and hoped that Ibrahim’s sentence would serve as a deterrent to others.

Earlier, the prosecutor, Mr Abudulahi Tanko, told the court that Mr  Isaac Okoli  of New Millennium Road, Kutunku, Gwagwalada, reported the case on Feb. 3.

Tanko said that Ibrahim cut Okoli’s gold necklace at the Gwagwalada Market gate and extorted N5,000 from him.

He said that when Ibrahim was arrested, the necklace and N1,000 was found on him.

The prosecuctor noted  that extortion and resisting arrest respectively contravened Sections 291 and 172 of the Penal Code.