Man jails 45 years for stealing Gov Aregbesola's phone

31 year old Kevin Ighodalo has been jailed for 45 years by an Oshogbo High Court for the theft of a Sony Ericsson phone worth about N50, 000 belonging to Governor Rauf Aregbesola of Osun State on November 27, 2010. The convicted man was reported to have used the contact on the phone to have duped some unsuspecting people. Read more report of the story from Punch

Ighodalo stole the phone from the pocket of Aregbesola on November 27, 2010, when the governor was being inaugurated at Government Technical College, Osogbo.
Justice Oyejide Falola, who heard the case, found Ighodalo guilty on six counts, which included conspiracy, stealing and fraud.
He was sentenced to 10-year imprisonment for the first three counts and five years for each of the last three which included impersonation, obtaining property by falsehood and collusion.

Falola, who ruled that Ighodalo deserved the jail term, held that the convict used the phone to obtain N500, 000 from the Owa of Ilesa, Oba Adekunle Aromolaran, while he obtained N200, 000 from Mr Shengen Rahman, an associate of the governor.

The jail term, which Falola pronounced will run concurrently, means that Ighodalo will spend the next 10 years behind bars.

Assistant principal state counsel, Mr Biodun Badiora, told the court that the convict had served six-year imprisonment in Ikoyi prison custody in connection with a murder case in 2005.

Counsel to Ighodalo, Mr. Ameachi Ngwu, prayed the court to commit him to community service, stressing that the convict should not be incarcerated but rather be placed where people could see him as a convict.