A Federal High Court in Lagos on Monday sentenced 35-year-old Aliyu Muktar to nine months imprisonment for peddling 100g of cannabis sativa.

Justice Abimbola Awogboro, while delivering judgment, said “I have seen the open confession of the defendant and the remorse shown.

“I find and hold that I should exercise my discretion and not impose the maximum punishment,” the judge said.

The convict was on November 11 charged by the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) on one count of drug trafficking, to which he pleaded guilty.

The court had adjourned the case for a review of facts and sentencing.

When the case was called on Monday, the prosecutor, Jeremiah Aernan, tendered evidence before the court to establish the case of prosecution.

He said the convict was arrested on a tip off at Sabo in Ikorodu, while illegally trafficking the narcotic.

Some of the documents include, certificate of test analysis, packing of substance form, request for scientific aid form, drug analysis report, large sealed envelope, statement of the convict, as well as bulk of the substance.

After admitting and marking the evidence as exhibits A to G respectively, the court then ordered the convict to identify the exhibits and confirm if the substances were indeed recovered from him and he replied yes.

The prosecutor, accordingly, urged the court to proceed and sentence the convict, based on his plea and the evidence adduced by prosecution.

The court convicted the defendant. However, before sentencing the convict, Justice Awogboro asked the convict about his marital status as well as his job.

In response, the convict told the court that he was married and deals in scrap or condemned iron, adding that he had been in Lagos for two years.

He said the substance did not belong to him but was given to him by his boss, and begged the court to show him mercy as he had no past criminal records.

The court consequently sentenced the convict to nine months imprisonment to begin from the date of his arrest and ordered that the narcotics substances be forfeited to the federal government who would also destroy same.

(NAN)