6th February, 2017
Three drug traffickers are to spend the next 15 years behind bars, a court ruled in Lagos on Monday.
A Federal High Court which handed down the verdict said the trio — Bukola Adeoye, 24; Muyideen Ipumafayi, 35; and Alani Babaraji, 30 — were convicted following their guilty pleas.
The judge, who gave the convicts an option of N5 million fine each, are to spend five years each.
They were arraigned by the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) on three separate charges bordering on trafficking in hemp.
Adeoye was first arraigned on March 6, 2013, before Justice John Tsoho and had pleaded not guilty to the charges.
However, Tsoho was transferred from the Lagos Division of the court, while Justice Mojisola Olatoregun, took over as the new trial judge.
On Feb. 1, Adeoye opted to change her plea and pleaded not guilty; she was re-arraigned and remanded in prison while the court adjourned proceedings for a review of facts.
The prosecutor said she was arrested at Ejigbo in Lagos with about 12.15 kg of cannabis sativa (hemp).
Ipumafayi was arrested on Dec. 7, 2016, along the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway for also transporting about 10.4 kg of hemp.
He was arraigned on Jan. 26 and had pleaded guilty to the charges while the court also adjourned for a review of facts.
Babaraji was arrested on Nov. 29, 2016, at an uncompleted building at the Ijegun area of Lagos for dealing in 1.1kg of Cannabis and was arraigned on Jan. 26 and pleaded guilty to the charge.
At the resumed hearing of the case on Friday, the Prosecutor, Mr Jeremiah Aernan, reviewed the facts of the cases and tendered evidence before the court.
He tendered a statement of the convicts, a request for scientific aid form, as well as exhibits.
Delivering her judgment, Justice Olatoregun, found the trio including a woman guilty of the offences as charged.
She sentenced Adeola, Ipumafayi and Babaraji to a term of five years imprisonment each which will run from the date of judgment.