Justice Ayokunle Faji of the Federal High Court in Lagos on Thursday convicted a man, Bamgbose Osho, who was declared wanted in 2020 by the Ogun State Police command over alleged kidnapping and murder, for unlawful dealing in Cannabis Sativa.
Osho, also known as Lebo, was accused by the police of being a member of a gang that kidnapped and murdered a housewife, Memunat Akinde and two commercial motorcyclists, Ibikunle Ajose and Owoyele Abisoye, in Idoleyin Community, in Ado-Odo Ota, Ogun State sometimes in October 2020.
The convict and his gang were also alleged to have dismembered their victims’ bodies and sold them.
While his co-accused had been arrested, the convict was said to be at large, and he was declared wanted by the Command.
The operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLE, A, however, arrested him, at his abode, 4 Bandu Street, Ikoga, Badagry, on October 22, 2022, with one kilogram of Cannabis Sativa.
After his arrest, he was arraigned before Justice Faji on two-count charge of unlawful dealing in 1 kilogram of the said banned weed and illegal possession of 3.3 kilograms of the same hard drug.
The NDLEA had insisted that the offences contravened sections 11(c) and 19 of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency Act Cap N30 Laws of the Federation of Nigeria 2004.
The convict pleaded guilty to the charge when he was arraigned.
Count two of the charge, which carries life imprisonment punishment, was, however, withdrawn after the court’s intervention.
Following the convict’s guilty plea, the defence counsel, Julius Ajibulu, asked the judge to temper justice with mercy in sentencing his client, he also informed the court that his client was a first first-time who did not waste the court’s time to plead guilty to the charge.
However, the prosecutor, Femi Adebayo, urged the court to convict him as prescribed by the section under which he was charged, adding that the convict aggressively attacked the operative when they wanted to arrest him
Adebayo also told the court that the convict had committed a murder offence and had been declared wanted by the Ogun State Police Command.
Justice Faji, after listening to both parties, sentenced the convict to three years imprisonment.
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