A woman, identified as Bilikisu Lawal, has been convicted and sentenced to one-year imprisonment for dealing in five five kilograms of cannabis sativa, aka marijuana.
The presiding judge, Justice Ayokunle Faji of a Federal High Court in Lagos State ruled that Lawal, who claimed to be battling the Human Immunodeficiency Virus, was guilty of the offence.
According to the prosecutor, Femi Adebayo, the convict was arrested with weed on November 2, 2022, at her house at Odofin, Ebute Onijegi Iworo, Badagry, Lagos State.
Adebayo told the court that the offence contravenes Section 11(c) of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency Act Cap. N30, Laws of the Federation of Nigeria, and is punishable under the same Act.
The convict pleaded guilty to the charge.
The convict, in her plea for leniency, informed the court that she was an HIV patient, who did not have anyone to take care of her.
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She said she used the proceeds of the Indian hemp to take care of herself, children and aged mother.
Following her guilty plea, the prosecutor urged the court to sentence her in accordance with the law.
The judge then requested medical proof of her claim, which she presented.
Justice Faji, in her judgement on Friday, sentenced the convict to one-year imprisonment, saying her illness was not the type that could not be taken care of by the Nigerian Correctional Services, urging the service officials to ensure that Lawal was given adequate medical treatment in custody.
The one-count charge against the convict read, “That you, Bilikisu Lawal, female, adult, Nigerian, of Odofin, Ebute Onijegi Iworo, Badagry, Lagos State, on or about November 2, 2022, at Odofin, Ebute Onijegi Iworo, in the Badagry area of Lagos State, within the jurisdiction of this honourable court, without lawful authority, dealt in 5.0 kg of marijuana, otherwise known as cannabis sativa, a narcotic drug similar to cocaine, heroin, LSD, by which act you committed an offence contrary to and punishable under Section 11(c) of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency Act Cap. N30, Laws of the Federation of Nigeria.”