By ADEROGBA GEORGE

The FCT Chapter of the Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria (PSN) has vowed to appeal against the conviction and life imprisonment handed down to Abubakar Danraka, a Pharmacist at the National Hospital Abuja, found guilty of committing sodomy.

The Chairman of the chapter, Mr Ifeanyi Ikebudu, said this in a statement signed and issued to newsmen in Abuja on Tuesday.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Danraka was found guilty of committing sodomy.

The convict was charged to an FCT High Court and on Sept. 18, the court convicted him for the crime and was sentenced to life imprisonment.

Meanwhile, Ikebudu in the statement said Danraka did not commit such crime, and that it was just a case of threat on him by the father of the victim who happened to be a pharmacist technician at the National Hospital Abuja.

“We are aware of the rancour between him and the father of the purported victim, a pharmacy technician at National Hospital, Abuja, where Danraka is still on the nominal roll as an Assistant Director.

“He is currently on secondment with the National Institute of Pharmaceutical Research and Development (NIPRD), Idu, Abuja.

“The pharmacy technician had threatened to destroy Danraka and this conviction could have been the outcome of the well-executed threat.

“It has become very important for us to state our position with respect to life imprisonment handed over to our colleague, friend and brother, Dr. Abubakar Danraka, recently by the FCT court in Abuja.

“Danraka is one of our finest, a Pharmacist of no mean repute, an astute professional who has carved a niche for himself and the pharmacy profession everywhere he worked as testified by his subordinates, peers and superiors.

“He was undeservedly jailed for an alleged act of sodomy which every one of us doubted that he could be involved in an abominable act of that nature.

“We had no doubt in our mind as evidenced by our interaction with Dr Abubakar Danraka, that this was a case of threat carried too far and that he will prove his innocence and be vindicated.”

“It is unbelievable and untenable that he could be convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment as pronounced by the FCT High Court judge for a crime he has consistently and vehemently denied committing,” Ikebudu said.

He disclosed that the pharmaceutical society had obtained and read through the judgment and the processes leading to it.

He said that the convict’s legal representatives and that of NIPRD had been consulted and that there was a consensus that the judgment of life imprisonment delivered against Danraka was a travesty of justice.

Ikebudu said that the pharmaceutical society knew that Danraka did not commit the offence preferred on him, and that he was known to be a committed man to his words.

He added that the convict had always stood for truth and justice, adding that the Investigating Police Officer did not do a good job of considering Danraka’s alibi of his engagements at the time the crime was purportedly committed. (NAN)

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