A Lagos Federal High Court has convicted and sentenced a nursing mother, Adeoye Oluwakemi Fatimoh, to six years in prison for trafficking in banned substances.
Justice Tijjani Ringim gave the convict the jail terms after she pleaded guilty to two counts charge of unlawful export of 1.10kg of Indian hemp and 17 grams of Rohypnol, a psychotropic substance, brought against her by the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA).
The NDLEA lawyer, Mr Abu Ibrahim, while arraigning the convict, told the court that she was arrested with the prohibited drug, on November 18, 2022, which she wanted to export to Oman, at the Gate ‘C’ of the Departure Hall of the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Ikeja-Lagos during the outward clearance of passengers on an Ethiopian Airline flight.
Abu told the court that the offences committed by the convict contravened Section 11(b) of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency Cap. N30, Laws of the Federation of Nigeria, 2004.
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The convict admitted committing the offences and pleaded guilty to the two counts charge.
Following her guilty plea, the prosecutor urged the court to convict and sentence her in accordance with the sections of the NDLEA she was charged with.
But the convict, in her plea for mercy, told the court that if given a second chance, she would not engage in any form of crime.
Her lawyer, Lilian Omotunde, urged the court to temper justice with mercy in sentencing her client. She particularly urged the court to consider the timely guilty plea of the convict, whom she described as a first-time offender.
The prosecutor, Mr Abu equally told the court that the convict did not have any previous conviction record.
Justice Ringim, after listening to both parties, and citing a series of legal authorities, sentenced the convict to three years in jail on each of the counts.
He ordered that the jail terms run consecutively, and gave the convict the option of paying a fine of N500,000 on count one.
The judge also ordered that the banned substances confiscated from the convict be destroyed by the NDLEA after the appeal period lapsed.
