Picture Of Inmates Performing Community Service
Justice Abimbola Awogboro of a Lagos Federal High Court, has convicted and sentenced two men, Christian Osinachi, 27, and Odinaka Enwere, 34, to 300 hours community service, from conspiracy and unlawful dealing in216 grams of Cannabis Sativa, also known as marijuana.
Justice Awogboro ordered the two men perform the community service, after they both admitted commiting the allegations made against them by the anti-narcotic agency, the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA).
The convicted Christian and Odinaka, according to the prosecutor, N. J. Mamza, while arraigning them on Wednesday, told the court that they were arrested by the NDLEA operatives on November 15, 2023, at 2023, at Lekki-Ajah area Lagos State, where they conspired among themselves to illegally dealt in the prohibited weeds.
The prosecutor told the court that the convicts’ illegal acts were contrary to sections 14(b) and 11(c) of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency Act Cap N.30 Laws of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 2004, and punishable under the same Act.
The convicted men, admitted commiting the offences upon the reading of the charges to them.
Consequently, the prosecutor after reviewing the facts of the offences, and tendered some exhibits, urged the court to convict and sentence them based on their plea and in accordance with relevant provisions of Administrative of the Criminal Justice Act (ACJA) 2015, and other plethoras of authorites.
But the convicts’ lawyer, R. M. J. Nyiew, pleaded with the court to construe the earliest timely guilty plea of her clients, as a sign of remorse. And for not wasting the precious time of the court.
The lawyer, while cited series of legal authorites, also pleaded with the court to give her clients a non-custodian sentenced, as they have promised to turn a new leave.
The presiding judge, Justice Awogboro, after listening to the lawyer’s submission and confirmed from the prosecutor that the convicts were first time offenders without any record of previous conviction, sentenced them to 300 hours community service.
