FUNSHO AROGUNDADE
A Lagos High Court sitting in Ikeja has sentenced oil mogul Walter Wagbatsoma and his staff Adaoha Ugo-Nnadi to 10 years in prison for fuel subsidy fraud.
Justice Lateefat Okunnu said the sentence would start to count from January 13, 2016.
She also ordered restitution for Ontario Oil and Gas, and asked the company to refund N754 million being the amount it defrauded the Nigerian government.
While Wagbatsoma was sentenced in absentia as he’s under house arrest in the United Kingdom, Ms. Ugo-Nnadi was present.
Justice Okunnu had adjourned the sentencing of Walter Wagbatsoma, Adaoha Ugo-Nnadi, and Ontario Oil and Gas till today 26 January.
The sentencing was initially rescheduled to last Monday after Ms. Ugo-Nnadi fainted in the dock when the Judge who had pronounced their conviction was about to pronounce their sentence. This prompted the judge to postpone sentencing to today.
Wagbatsoma and Ugo-Nnadi’s case is the first conviction since the massive oil subsidy fraud trial perpetrated by oil marketers began in 2012.
Ugo-Nnadi, who was in a wheelchair while the sentence was being read by Justice Okunnu, was stoic and expressionless when her prison term was pronounced.
But it was a shattered Ada that walked on her feet as soon as a white Kirikiri Female Prison van drove into the court’s premises and conveyed her to the facility to serve her term.
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