Man Jailed 45-years In Prison For Stealing Governor Aregbesola’s Phone

The long hands of the law has finally caught up with 31-year-old Kelvin Ighodalo who was sentenced to 45 years imprisonment by an Osogbo High Court in Osun State for stealing a N50,000 Sony Ericsson phone, belonging to Governor Rauf Aregbesola. We gathered that Ighodalo stole the phone from Aregbesola’s pocket on November 27, 2010, when the Governor was being inaugurated at Government Technical College, Osogbo.

The Presiding Judge, Justice Oyejide Falola, who presided over the case, found Ighodalo guilty on a six count charge, part of which include conspiracy, stealing and fraud.

He sentenced the accused to 10 years imprisonment for the first three counts and five years for each of the last three which include, impersonation, obtaining property by falsehood and collusion.

He however noted that the jail term, will run concurrently, meaning that Ighodalo will spend the next 10 years behind bars.

He said the convict deserve the jail term, emphasising that the convict used the phone to obtain N500, 000 from the Owa of Ilesa, Oba Adekunle Aromolaran, and also obtained N200, 000 from Mr Shengen Rahman, an associate of the Governor.

It was also revealed by the Assistant principal, state counsel, Mr Biodun Badiora in court that the convict had served a six years prison term at the Ikoyi prison 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.