Tobias Sylvester
A Federal High Court in Kano has sentenced a 28-year-old man, Abubakar Suleiman, to two years imprisonment for trafficking 30 Nigerian women to Libya.
Suleiman was arraigned on Thursday by National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking In Persons (NAPTIP), which charged him with one count of trafficking in persons.
The prosecution counsel, Mr Abdullahi Babale told the court that the convict on Feb. 10, conspired with one Salele (a Nigerien) now at large, and transferred 30 woman from Edo and Lagos states to Niger Republic through Babura border in Jigawa, enroute Libya.
He said that the convict deducted N5,000 from each of the women from N50,000 paid per person from the sponsors in Libya and Niger Republic as commission.
Babale tendered the defendant’s statement and one of the victim’s statements as exhibits, and urged the court to sentence the defendant according to Section 356 (2) of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act 2015.
The defendant pleaded guilty to the charge and his defence Counsel, M.B. Isa, pleaded for leniency on behalf of his client as a first time offender.
Delivering judgment, Justice Sa’adatu Ibrahim-Mark, sentenced the convict to two years imprisonment at the correctional centre without any option of fine.
The judge also ordered the convict to pay an additional sum of N250,000, failure of which he will serve additional three months in the correctional centre.
KanyiDaily had reported how a Nigerian Human Trafficker, Ediozi Odi, was sentenced to 129 years imprisonment in addition to 6 life sentences after he was found guilty of human trafficking and related charges in South Africa.
