A Federal High Court sitting in Kano, Kano State has sentenced a 28-year-old man, Abubakar Suleiman, to two years imprisonment for trafficking 30 women from Nigeria to Libya.
The suspect was arraigned before the court presided over by Justice Ibrahim-Mark by the National Agency for the Prohibition In Persons (NAPTIP) on a one-count bordering on trafficking in persons.
Suleiman bagged the jail term after the court found him guilty for transferring 30 women from Nigeria to Libya.
In the charge filed by the agency on Thursday, Suleiman was found to have committed an offence that was contrary to Section 13(2)(c) of the Trafficking in Persons(Prohibition) Enforcement and Administration Act 2015.
In his judgment, justice Ibrahim-Mark ordered that the convict restitute the sum of N250,000 as compensation.
Earlier during the hearing, the prosecution counsel, Abdullahi Babale told the court that the convict on Feb.10, conspired with one Salele and transferred 30 women from Edo and Lagos State to the Niger Republic through the Babura border in Jigawa, en route Libya.
“The convict deducted N5,000 from each of the women from the N50,000 paid per person from the sponsors in Libya and Niger Republic as commission,” he said.
According to the prosecutor, the offence contravened the provisions of Section 13(2)(c) of the Trafficking in Persons(Prohibition) Enforcement and Administration Act 2015.
Babale tendered the defendant’s statement and one of the victim’s statements as an exhibit and prayed the court to sentence the defendant according to section 356 (2) of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act 2015.
Subsequently, the defence Counsel, M.B. Isa, pleaded for leniency on behalf of his client, saying his client is a first-time offender.
“The defendant is married and has five children. We pray the court to temper justice with mercy according to section 416 (2) of ACJL 2015,” he said.
