Justice Ambrose Lewis-Allagoa of a Federal High Court, Lagos, today, convicted and sentenced two men, Lamin Magaji Muhammad, and Ibrahim Haruna Muhammad, to give years imprisonment for conspiracy, unlawful possession and selling of Gorilla.
Justice Lewis-Allagoa convicted and sentenced the two men, after pronouncing them guilty of the three counts charges made against them by the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) in a charge marked FHC/L/526c/2023.
The two convicts were arrested by the Focus Conservation team of the Customs in August 2023, at Agege area of Lagos State, where they offered the gorilla for sale.
Following their arrest, they were charged before the court on the three counts charge.
In the charge, they were accused of conspiring among themselves to unlawfully possess and sale the animal, which is categorized as ‘endangered species’.
Their acts, according to the prosecutors, Barrister Smart Adeyemi and Barrister Michael Osong, were contrary to and punishable under section 516 of the Criminal Code Act, Cap C38, Laws of the Federation of Nigeria, 2004.
The offences are also said to be contrary to section 5(1) of the Endangered Species (Control of International Trade and Traffic) (Amendment) Act, 2016 and punishable under section 5(1)(a) of the same Act. And section 7(3) of the National Environment (Protection of Endangered Species in International Trade) Regulations, 2 and punishable under section 7(4) of the same Regulations.
They had denied the allegations and pleaded not guilty to the charges when they were first arraigned in 2023, the situation that gives way to their trial.
In in delivering judgment on the charge today, Justice Lewis-Allagoa held that the prosecution has been able to proved its case against the two convicts beyond reasonable doubt.
The judge consequently convict the two men.
Lawyer to the convicts, Barrister B. Buhari, in his allocutor, told the court that his clients are first time offenders. Adding that they did not know that their act is ..
He pleaded with the court to award a non-custodian sentence or fine option in lieu of the jail terms.
The prosecutors, while citing the punishment for the convicts acts, urged the court to order the forfeiture of the gorilla to the federal government of Nigeria.
Based on the allocutor made by the counsel and the prosecutors’ request, Justice Lewis-Allagoa sentenced each of the convicts to 12 months imprisonment in each of the counts, running concurrently.
The judge however ordered each of the convicts to pay N500, 000 on each counts consecutively. Adding that the recovered gorilla be forfeited to the Nigeria government
