Sekondi -- A Twenty-Eight-year-old Nigerian, who was arrested with a pistol and 12 rounds of ammunition at Elubo in the Western Region, has been sentenced to five years imprisonment with hard labour by the Sekondi High Court.

The convict, Vincent Nwambani, who pleaded guilty appealed for leniency before his sentence.

The court, presided over by Mr Justice C.J. Honyenuga, also ordered that the convict be deported after serving his term.It further directed that the pistol and the ammunition should be handed over to the Western Regional Police Command.Narrating the facts of the case to the court, a Principal State Attorney, Mr William Kpopi, said on February 13, this year, two soldiers in mufti went to a drinking spot at Elubo.

He said while there, their attention was drawn to a heated argument between Vincent and the attendant over the payment for a bottle of drink, which Vincent had drank. He said the soldiers intervened and tried to cool down tempers, but Vincent became offended and removed a pistol from his pocket with which he threatened to shoot the soldiers.

According to the prosecutor, the soldiers overpowered him and dispossessed him of the pistol. He said when the soldiers searched the convict?s pocket, they found 12 rounds of ammunition on him and they subsequently handed him over to the police. According to the prosecutor, Vincent claimed in his statement to the police that he was a legal studies student of the Imo State University in Nigeria.

When the judge demanded from the convict his mission in Ghana, he said he was in the country to seek a job as a security officer.