Justice Daniel Osiagor of a Federal High Court in Lagos has convicted and sentenced an Ibadan-based woman, Igbinosun Sandra Esther, to three years imprisonment for dealing in illicit drugs.
The judge handed down the verdict after Esther owned up to a count charge of unlawful importation of 5.5 kilograms of Cannabis Sativa also known as marijuana slammed on her by the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA).
Justice Osiagor however gave the convict an option of a fine to the tune of N200, 000 in lieu of jail term. While proceedings lasted in the matter, NDLEA’s lawyer, Abu Ibrahim, informed the judge that Esther, a 60-year-old resident of Adunkole Agbofieti Street, Apata, Ibadan, Oyo State, was arrested on November 25, 2022.
The prosecutor further told Justice Osiagor that the convict had procured a driver, Adebayo Kolawole, to transport the banned weed to her at Ibadan from the Import Shed of National Handling Company Limited (NAHCO), a Customs Area/Point of the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Ikeja-Lagos.
Abu further argued that the offence offends the provision of Section 21 (2)(d) of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency Act, Cap. N30, Laws of the Federation of Nigeria, 2004, and punishable under Section 11(b) of the same Act.
In his plea for leniency, the defence lawyer, Anthony Nnamoko, argued that the convict was not aware that her daughter, whom she did not mention her name, hid the drug in the cargo she sent to her. The lawyer consequently pleaded with Justice Osiagor to tamper justice with mercy in sentencing his clien