Stanislus Sofa
Former SDF Mayor for Tubah, Stanislus Sofa, who was arrested and detained at the Bamenda central prison since November 4, 2014, has been acquitted.
Sofa was freed Tuesday, October 27 by the court on grounds that the charges leveled against him were unfounded as well as not properly presented.
On the count that he, alongside a council engineer, Chick Jeh Emmanuel, embezzled building permit levies amounting to 46MFCFA during his tenure, the court held that the audit was not properly conducted and was unprofessional. The money, reports say, was building permit levies not paid into the council’s coffers.
As regards an allegation that Sofa had swindled 26MFCFA which he claimed was used to transfer furniture from the former council base to the new chambers, we gathered that the plaintiff could not prove beyond reasonable doubt; with vouchers, that the money had been embezzled.
During a Tubah council evaluation meeting, Nguele Nguele Felix, former SDO FOR Mezam, had suspended a committee from investigating the 26MFCFA scandal. The suspension was on grounds that the committee was not well constituted.
Despite Sofa’s acquittal, a jurist told reporters that he may not have regained total freedom as fresh charges could still be brought up against him.
However, Sofa’s release was greeted with joy as locals accompanied him to his residence in Bambui.
Meanwhile, after a council session last week, the incumbent mayor of Tubah, Tanjong Martin told reporters he suspected foul play on the case based on the fact that each time Sofa’s case came up in court, SDF vanguards and his (Sofa) friends appeared in court in their numbers.
“Sofa has sent to me several threats stressing that I should pray that he is not released because if he succeeds to come out of detention, my life will be in danger,” Tanjong disclosed.
