The Federal High Court in Lagos has sentenced a 35-year-old man, Deji Adesanya, to jail for contravening the state’s law through illicit drug trafficking.
The court found Adesanya culpable after he pleaded guilty to peddling five kilograms of cannabis sativa, otherwise known as marijuana, after which he was sentenced to a six-month prison sentence over the crime.
The convict was arrested by the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA, and arraigned over charges of dealing in the prohibited substance, an offence under the body’s act.
NDLEA prosecutor, Peter Ekuri, told the Presiding Judge, Akintayo Aluko, that the convict was nabbed on November 22 in Ikate-Elegushi area of the state, after which which he reviewed the facts of the case and tendered several exhibits as evidence against the lawbreaker.
Ekuri submitted that the offence is contrary to and punishable under Section 11(c) of the National Drug Enforcement Agency Act, Cap N30, Laws of the Federation of Nigeria 2004.
At the trial held yesterday, the prosecutor prayed the court to sentence Adesanya accordingly, however, defence counsel, Rita Nyiew, urged for leniency in the judgement.
Nyiew asked the judge to consider her client’s early guilty plea and remorse, as well as his promise to refrain from further deals in criminal activity.
Aluko consequently sentenced the litigant to six month sentence with an option of fine of N450,000.
