On Monday evening, Dr. Doyin Okupe, a former Senior Special Assistant (SSA) on Media for former President Goodluck Jonathan, paid N13 million to avoid serving the full 52-year sentence he received for a N240 million money laundering offence.
Recall that Justice Ijeoma Ojukwu of a Federal High Court in Abuja convicted Okupe guilty of accepting more than N200 million payment from former National Security Adviser (NSA) Sambo Dasuki earlier on Monday.
Okupe, the first defendant in the lawsuit brought by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), was found to have broken the Money Laundering Act, according to Justice Ojukwu.
The court consequently held that the first defendant, Dr Okupe was guilty in counts 34, 35, 36, and 59 and the 26 counts, which each carried a two-year prison sentence, were to run concurrently, per Justice Ojukwu’s order, thus the prison sentence for the guilty party would only be two years.
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However, the judge offered a N13 million option, payable by 4:30 p.m. (the end of business today), which amounts to N500,000 in each of the counts.
She commanded that Okupe be taken to Kuje Correctional Center to complete his sentence if he didn’t pay the fine option within the allotted period.
Nevertheless, a check at the court at around 6:00 p.m. revealed that Okupe, who serves as the Director General of the Presidential Campaign Council (PCC) of Mr. Peter Obi of the Labour Party (LP), had paid the money.
Okupe’s wife and son had asked for mercy after his conviction.
