FORMER Adamawa State finance commissioner John Babani Elias has become the first politician to be sentenced to prison since the inception of the Buhari administration after he was jailed for 10 years yesterday.In a clear indication that the present government intends to take the war against corruption seriously, Mr Elias has been handed out the stiffest sentence ever meted out to a politician since the return to democracy in 1999. His conviction followed a corruption case instituted by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) against him.

Yesterday's judgement was delivered by Justice Bilkisu Aliyu at the Federal High Court, Yola, in the case against Mr Elias and Al- Akim Investment, a company he promoted, with Inuwa Bassi, listed as the second defendant in the case. However, the court acquitted Mr. Bassi for want of evidence and the convicted Mr Babani has since been taken to Yola prison.

Judge Aliyu  in her ruling on count three which nailed Mr Babani, and Al- Akim Investment, found the former commissioner guilty of defrauding the Adamawa state government of N31.5m (£105,938) via his company which he used to divert the said monies meant for a local government joint project. Although, the court found Mr Elias guilty of conspiracy to cause the payment of N21,000,000 via Habib Bank, it however, discharged and acquitted Mr Bassi, of the said count.

 In addition, Mr Babani is to return N51,000,000 to the Adamawa state government joint account while his company Al- Akim, shall pay the fine of N5,000,000 and is also to be wound up immediately. His counsel, Andrew Malgwi, said his client will appeal the judgement because he was not comfortable with some aspects of the ruling.