COUNT 7-Guilty as Charged COUNT 9-Guilty as Charged COUNT 11-Guilty as Charged COUNT 15- Guilty as Charged COUNT 17-Guilty as Charged COUNT 19-Guilty as Charged COUNT 25-Guilty as Charged As regards the Offence of Gratification punishable under Section 115 of the Penal Code Act, the Court finds as follows: COUNT 4-Guilty as Charged As regards the Offence of Accepting a Valuable Thing Without Consideration punishable under Section 119 of the Penal Code Act, the Court finds as follows: COUNT 5-Guilty as Charged ALLOCUTUS: Learned Counsel to the Defendant stated that the various Laws upon which the Counts in the Charge are based do not create a Mandatory Sentence. In other words, the Courts discretion is recognised and remains intact. The Law is clear that the Court is not bound to impose the Highest Sentence on the Convict, and is mandated to take into consideration certain Mitigating Factors. According to him, the Defendant served the People of Taraba State for more than Eight Years. The Defendant was selfless in his Service during his Tenure, he has no Criminal Records, and is a First Time Offender. Further, he is a young man less than 60 years old. He is also Family Man, with many Family Members who cannot exist without his Support. He referred the Court to the Case of ZACHEUS VS LAGOS STATE (2015) LPELR-24531 that a Sentence can be in such forms as Fine, Caution or Imprisonment, and the Case of FABORO VS FRN (2015) LPELR- 40885, PER AUGIE JCA (AS HE THEN WAS) where His Lordship considered certain 282