ALLOCUTUS S.D. Baraya Esq: On behalf of the convict we urge this court to temper justice with mercy because the defendant is a first time offender. He is also a married man with 4 children with some other dependants. We as part of the family we have made adequate efforts to restitute the amount involved i.e. N17,961,500 to the victim. We urge this court to exercise discretion to impose non-custodial sentence by giving him option of fine to give us the opportunity of putting more efforts in liquidating the sum. Part of the money said to have been misappropriated arose due to the failures of some of his debtors to settle the monetary values of the goods they bought from him and one of the debtors is now deceased and the heirs are financially incapacitated and hence the convict has to pay. In view of this, we urge this court to temper justice with mercy. We also urge the court to exercise its discretion. Y.K. Saidu Esq: While we are not opposing this court to temper justice with mercy, we concede that the convict is a first time offender. Our investigation also revealed that the convict is a married man with 4 children and other dependants. Our investigation particularly the convict’s statement, did not show that the convict has some debtors connected to the money misappropriated by him. We have no objection to the given of option of fine to the convict. We also pray that the payment be made through the EFCC. SENTENCE Court: By the provisions of Section 310 (3) of the ACJL of Sokoto State 2019, a trial court while sentencing after conviction, is repaired to take into consideration all the aggravating and mitigating evidence and or information into consideration as a guide in deciding the extent and nature of the sentence to be imposed against the convict. Page 9 of 10