Lukman Olabiyi
Justice Chukwujeku Aneke of the Federal High Court, Lagos, has convicted and sentenced a 51-year woman, Olawunmi Aderibigbe, and her granddaughter, Basirat Ogunboye, to 12 months imprisonment for peddling hard drugs.
Both the grandma and her 19-year-old granddaughter were given the jail terms by the court after they pleaded guilty to a two-count charge of conspiracy and unlawful dealing in the banned substance.
The convicts were arraigned by the anti-narcotic section of the State Criminal Intelligence and Investigation Department (SCIID), of Nigeria Police Force (NPF), Panti, Yaba, Lagos.
The offenses according to the prosecutor, Ayigor Innocent, are contrary to Section 3(6) and punishable under Section 1(15)(a)(iii) of the Miscellaneous Offences Act cap. M17, laws of the Federation of Nigeria, 2004.
They had earlier pleaded not guilty to the charge when they were first arraigned before the court and they were equally admitted to bail in various terms.
However, at the last hearing of the case against the convicts, they changed their plea.
Upon the change of plea, the presiding judge, Justice Aneke, ordered the prosecutor to review the facts of the crime.
The prosecutor, Mr. Anyigor, while reviewing the facts of the case told the court that the defendants and others now at large, on April 11, along Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) road, Ejigbo, Lagos, were unlawfully dealing in hard drugs which include cocaine, morphine, methamphetamine and others, weighing 800 grammes.
He also told the court that the defendants, in their confessional statement admitted selling the drugs.
Upon reviewing the facts of the matter and tendering the drugs which were admitted as exhibits, the prosecutor urged the court to convict the defendants and sentence them accordingly.
In his judgment, Justice Aneke reprimanded the defendants, most especially, the grandmother for leading her granddaughter into the unwholesome act.
Consequently, the judge sentenced the defendants to 12 months imprisonment.