Justice Tijjani Ringim of the Federal High Court in Lagos has convicted and sentenced a nursing mother, Fatimoh Adeoye to six years imprisonment for drug trafficking.
Justice Ringim jailed Adeoye after she pleaded guilty to a two-count charge of unlawful exportation of 1.10 kilograms of Cannabis Sativa popularly called marijuana and 17 grams of Rohypnol, a Psychotropic Substance, brought against her by the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA).
NDLEA had through one of its lawyers, Abu Ibrahim told the court that the convict was arrested with the prohibited drugs, on November 18, 2022, which she attempting to export them to Oman, at the Gate ‘C’ of the Departure Hall of the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Ikeja-Lagos during an outward clearance of passengers on Ethiopian Airline flight.
Ibrahim told the court that the offence contravened section 11(b) of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency Cap. N30, Laws of the Federation of Nigeria, 2004.
Based on her guilty plea, the prosecutor urged the court to convict and sentence the convict under the sections of the law for which she was charged.
But the convict, in her plea for mercy, told the court that if she was given a second chance, she will not engage in any form of crime in the future.
Her lawyer, chief Lilian Omotunde also urged the court to temper justice with mercy and consider the timely guilty plea of the convict, whom she described as a first-time offender who did not have a previous record of conviction.
Justice Ringim after listening to both parties sentenced the convict to a three years jail term for each of the two counts.
But while the judge held that the jail term is to run consecutively, he, however, gave the convict an option of a N500,000 fine on count one only.
