A high court in Yola, Adamawa State, has sentenced a fake doctor, Ibrahim Mustapha, who pleaded guilty to forgery and impersonation, to accumulative 44 years and six months in jail.

He is however to spend 10 years.

The presiding judge, Justice Nathan Musa, sentenced Ibrahim Mustapha on ten counts, which variously attracted between six months and 10 years and which the judge said should run concurrently.

Delivering the judgement Monday, Justice Nathan said Ibrahim Mustapha practised medicine for several years under false pretences, making innocent patients entrust their lives to his uncertified practice.

Ibrahim Mustapha worked under the Adamawa State Government with a medical degree he took from a licensed medical doctor.

He rose in the civil service to become a principal medical officer of Cottage Hospital, Fufore in Fufore LGA, until he was arrested by the Department of State Services in June this year.

Parading the fake doctor in Yola at the time, the DSS director in the state, Bola Olori, had said a preliminary investigation revealed that Mustapha held National Board of Technical Education (NBTE) certificate, an equivalent of Senior Secondary School certificate.

Ibrahim had confessed to forging MBBS credentials at the time but denied insinuation that he killed people in the course of his illegal medical practice.