Abuja Court Sentences Lovers To 3-month Imprisonment Over Adultery

A Gwagwalada Magistrates’ Court in Abuja on Thursday sentenced 30-year-old Mohammed Nazifi and Bilkisu Ibrahim, 25, to three months in prison for committing adultery.

The convicts pleaded for mercy from the court after pleading guilty, citing their family responsibilities.

Nazifi is a married man with young children and Ibrahim, a mother of a 3-year-old child who also claimed to have an elderly mother who rely on her for living.

The Magistrate, Olatunji Oladunmoye had previously remanded the convicts for them to provide a witness that would vouch for their conduct of good character.

He finally sentenced them to 3 months imprisonment each when they could not provide any, each with an option of an N25,000 fine.

Oladunmoye said the essence of the punishment was not to ruin or destroy the convicts, but to reform them.

He added that it would also serve as a deterrent to anyone who wanted to toe the same path.

Earlier, the prosecutor, Dabo Yakubu told the court that the complainant, Mr Dayabe Abdullahi of Chibiri village, Kuje, Abuja, reported the matter at the Area Command, Gwagwalada, Abuja on January 16.

Yakubu stated that the convicts who conspired to commit extra-marital sexual intercourse, confessed to their crime, saying their actions violated sections 387 and 388 of the Penal Code, which address individuals under customary law where such conduct is deemed a criminal offense.

“If the man or woman has sexual intercourse with anyone other than his spouse, he/she is guilty of adultery and shall be punished with imprisonment for a term. The term may extend to two years or with fine or with both,” he said.