A Federal High Court sitting in Makurdi, Benue State has sentenced 18-year-old Awua Mzehemen (male) and 40-year-old Mbaikpeveyol Pius
The suspects were arraigned by the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons with case number FHC/MKD/CR/25/18, for recruiting three young men aged between 20 and 21 for exploitative labour.
The young men were deceitfully recruited by the first accused person under the guise of getting a job for them in a shop in Oyo State on a monthly salary.
However, upon getting to Oyo State, the victims were forced to work in a farm belonging to the second accused and hired out to work in other people’s farms while the second accused collected their salaries.
Their attempts to escape the exploitative environment were thwarted by the accused persons twice, before they managed to alert the Nigerian Police, who subsequently got NAPTIP involved in the case.
The prosecution argued that the act is contrary to Section 13(2)(b) of the Trafficking in Persons (Prohibition) Enforcement and Administration Act, 2015 as it amounts to exploitative labour.
Delivering the judgment after both accused persons pleaded guilty to the charge, the presiding Judge, Justice Dikko Hassan, s