20yr-old Vendor to spend 1 year in jail for trading in marijuana

A Federal High Court in Lagos on Wednesday sentenced a 20-year-old newspaper vendor, Muyideen Olarenwaju, to one year imprisonment for dealing on 1.9kg of marijuana.

Justice Oluremi Oguntoyinbo convicted and sentenced Olarenwau, who pleaded guilty to a count charge, but prayed for leniency.

Olarenwaju, who had no legal representation, was prosecuted by the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA).

The prosecutor, Mr Jeremiah Aernan, had tendered evidence before the court to prove the illicit drug deal.

He tendered a written statement of the vendor, a request for scientific aid form, a drug analysis form and a bulk of the exhibit.

These were admitted by the court and marked as exhibits.

“The accused did not waste the time of the court and is hereby sentenced to a term of one year imprisonment to begin from the date of his arrest,” the judge held.

She ordered that the drug exhibit should be destroyed if there would not be an appeal against the judgment.

In the charge, NDLEA accused the vendor of illegally dealing on 1.9kg of marijuana in contravention of the provisions of Section 11 (c) of the NDLEA Act, 2004.

The agency said that it recovered the banned substance from the vendor on June 10 at Odo-eran, Cele area of Lagos.