Edo YPP Governorship candidate Okungbowa, three others sentenced to prison
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According to the charge sheet, Okungbowa insulted Mrs Blessing Aigbudu, the mother of two pupils at his school, on 8 September 2023, at the AIG Zone 5 headquarters in Benin.
By Jethro Ibileke
The governorship candidate of the Young Progressive Party (YPP) for the 2024 Edo governorship election, Paul Okungbowa, has been sentenced to six months in prison by an Oredo Chief Magistrate’s Court.
He was convicted on charges of negligence and defamation after calling a pupil’s mother a prostitute.
Okungbowa, who owns the Benin-based private school, Calvary Crown Academy, was sentenced alongside three teachers from his school: Blessing Osarodion, Egharevba Esosa, and Isioma Nimen.
Chief Magistrate Caroline Oghuma presided over the case and offered the defendants the option of fines.
According to the charge sheet, Okungbowa insulted Mrs Blessing Aigbudu, the mother of two pupils at his school, on 8 September 2023, at the AIG Zone 5 headquarters in Benin.
He called her a prostitute in the presence of her husband and others, an act deemed likely to cause a breach of peace.
Chief Magistrate Oghuma sentenced Okungbowa to six months’ imprisonment with an option of a ₦100,000 fine.
The three teachers were charged with negligence and abandonment of the Aigbudu children, leading to harm and exposure to danger.
The court found that Osarodion, Esosa, and Nimen, as caregivers at the academy, failed in their duties to protect the six-year-old pupil, Salma Aigbudu.
The child sustained facial injuries on 29 September 2021, while waiting in the school’s reception area during closing hours. The teachers did not provide first aid for the injury.
Additionally, the teachers were found guilty of abandoning two-year-old Zuri Aigbudu in January 2022, exposing the toddler to unnecessary danger.
Blessing Osarodion and Egharevba Esosa were each sentenced to one year in prison or a ₦100,000 fine for negligence resulting in injury to Salma Aigbudu.
Isioma Nimen received a three-month sentence or a ₦50,000 fine for unlawfully abandoning two-year-old Zuri Aigbudu.
The offences contravened Sections 167(2), 412, 270, and 267 of the Criminal Laws of Edo State, 2022.
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