Leadnaija
A 43-year-old trader identified as Abubakar Sulaiman has been sentenced to seven years imprisonment after he pleaded guilty to charges bordering on drug trafficking before Justice Ambrose Lewis Alagoa of the Federal High Court Lagos.
Justice Alagoa sentenced the convict after he pleaded guilty to a seven-count charge of dealing in illegal drugs on Tuesday,
The court, however, gave the convict an option of five million naira fine in lieu of custodial sentence.
According to the charge brought by the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, the defendant was said to have dealt in banned substances.
The banned substances are cannabis sativa, diazepam, tramadol, codeine cough syrup, rohynol, methamphetamine and molly among others.
When the case was called, the Prosecutor, Mr B.S Abdullahi, informed the court that he had a seven-count charge against the defendant.
Abdullahi urged the court to order that the charge be read to the defendant.
The charge was read and he pleaded guilty.
Following his plea, the prosecutor reviewed the facts of the case by tendering all relevant documents such as the extra- judicial statement of the defendant and the bulk of the exhibits recovered from him.
He urged the court to convict the defendant based on the avalanche of evidence adduced by the prosecution and his admittance of guilt.
In the absence of any objection Justice Alagoa, convicted the defendant as charged.
Following his conviction, the Defence Counsel, Mr Augustine Nwagwu, made an allocutus on behalf of the convict.
He pleaded for leniency on behalf of the convict adding that the convict was a first time offender who did not waste the time of the court but pleaded guilty at the first instance.
In his judgment afterwards, the court sentenced the convict to seven years imprisonment with an option of five million naira fine
According to the charge, the convict was said to have committed the offence on May 2, at Ikorodu a suburb of Lagos State.
He was said to have dealt in the restricted narcotics without lawful authority.
The offence contravenes the provisions of section 11c) of the NDLEA Act Cap N30 Law of the Federation 2004.(NAN)
