Lagos Court jails man 4 pirating El-Rufai’s book "The Accidental Public Servant"

A FEDERAL High Court in Lagos Wednesday convicted and sentenced a bookseller to three months’ imprisonment for selling pirated book of former Minister of Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Mallam Nasir el-Rufai’s The Accidental Public Servant.

The convict, Akamu Chibueze, a resident of 69, Owodunni Street, Iwaya, Yaba, Lagos, had pleaded guilty to a two-count of piracy and offer for sale of the pirated books levelled against him by Nigerian Copyrights Commission (NCC).

The NCC prosecutor, Lynda Alpheaus, told the court that the convict was caught on April 25, 2013, with two copies of The accidental public servant, which he offered for sale.

She appealed to the court to convict and sentence the bookseller as charged.

In his allocutus, the convict, who was not represented by any counsel, told the court that he is a bookseller; that the books were brought to him by his customers; and that he never knew that the books were pirated copies.

He pleaded with the court to tamper justice with mercy in sentencing him and promised not to commit such offence again. Guardian News