Eight residents of Lagos State have been sentenced to one month jail term by the Special Offences (Mobile Court) sitting in Oshodi after being arrested for urinating publicly and engaging in a breach of peace in the Yaba area of the State.
They were arraigned before the court over offence punishable under Section 168(1) d) of the Criminal Laws of Lagos State 2015 and Section 5(1) of the Public Health Law 2015.
The eight male convicts, who were apprehended by the Lagos Environmental Sanitation Corps (LAGESC) popularly known as KAI on Thursday were Idowu Adedeji, 25, Wasiu Dada, 40, Aliyu Mukaila, 32, Walter Ofuorochukwu, 37, David Chukwu, 60, Magaji Abubakar, 40, Adegoke Sule, 45, Adeseun Christopher, 60,
The Corps Marshal, Major Olaniyi Olatunbosun Cole (rtd), who confirmed the sentence, disclosed that they were arraigned before Magistrate Oshikoya.
According to him, ‘‘As the premier enforcement Agency in the State with operatives situated across 21 Divisions in the State, we must not allow public indecency such as open urination and defecation to fester undeterred and this daily monitoring of Lagos environs lead to the arraignment and prosecution of 8 offenders in the same vein and we remain unshaken”.
The retired Major also revealed how the presiding magistrate sentenced the defaulters to 1-month imprisonment, stressing how the judgement has consolidated the level of deterrence to intending defaulters not to engage in acts of public indecency.
Meanwhile, he reiterated the charge for street traders in the habit of displaying wares for sale on road setbacks, lay-bys, medians, verges, medians, kerbs and verges to desist from engaging in environmentally-deterrent practices, maintaining that open urination and defecation remains banned and illegal in the State as defaulters would be made to face the law.
