Justice Musa Kurya of a Federal High Court, Lagos on Wednesday sentenced Wale Arowolo, 34, a physically challenged man, to six months imprisonment for drug trafficking.
The judge sentenced the accused after he changed his earlier not guilty plea to guilty.
Arowolo was charged with dealing in a restricted narcotic, Cannabis Sativa.
“The accused is hereby convicted as charged and is accordingly sentenced to six months imprisonment, which will start running from July 3, 2012 when he was arrested,” Kurya said in his judgment.
The judge also advised the accused to sin no more as the sentence of the court was to serve as a deterrent to him.
The News Agency of Nigeria recalls that Arowolo had been granted bail when he initially pleaded “not guilty” on May 15, but was unable to meet the conditions.
Due to his inability to produce a surety, the court had ordered that he be remanded at the Ikoyi prisons and adjourned the case for trial.
As the court resumed for trial on Wednesday, Arowolo’s Counsel, Cletus Obaye, had informed the court that the accused wished to change his plea.
Obaye said that the accused, who had been in custody since his arrest on July 3, 2012, had decided to face the law by pleading guilty, since he could not provide a surety.
In view of the guilty plea, the counsel urged the court to be lenient in sentencing the accused, who is physically challenged.
NAN recalls that the prosecutor, Jerry Igunbor, had told the court that the accused was arrested under a bridge in Onikan, Lagos State and about 500 grammes of cannabis sativa were recovered him.
Igunbor said that the accused fled when he sighted officials of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, leaving one of his crutches behind but the officials caught up with him.
The prosecutor said that the accused sold the drugs in the area.
He said that the offence contravened the provisions of Section 11 (c) of the NDLEA Act, 2004.
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