A Federal High Court in Lagos convicted and sentenced two businessmen, Ifeuwa Christ and Ayogu James, to two years imprisonment for unlawfully importing 1,570 pump action rifles into Nigeria.
The court, presided over by Justice Ambrose Lewis-Alagoa, also ordered the convicts to pay N1 million on each of the eight counts as a fine in lieu of the jail term.
This judgment came following a plea bargain agreement between the Attorney-General of the Federation’s office and the convicts’ counsel, Yakubu Galadima.
The case began when the convicts, alongside their company, Great James Oil and Gas Limited, were first arraigned before Justice Salisu Saidu (retd.) in 2018 on eight counts, including conspiracy, unlawful importation of firearms, forgery, and uttering of customs’ import documents.
Upon their arraignment, they pleaded not guilty to all charges and were remanded in prison custody.
After Justice Saidu’s retirement, the case was reassigned to Justice Mohammed Liman, who, upon his transfer to another jurisdiction, had the matter reassigned to Justice Lewis-Alagoa.
The convicts, upon their re-arraignment before Justice Lewis-Alagoa, changed their earlier not-guilty plea to guilty.
Subsequently, a plea bargain agreement was reached between the convicts and the prosecution.
As per the agreement, the convicts pleaded guilty to the charges, undertook to be of good behavior, and agreed to a recommended sentence of one year imprisonment on each count, to run concurrently.
During the sentencing, Justice Lewis-Alagoa considered the convicts’ first-time offender status and the three years they had spent in custody.
As a result, he sentenced each of them to two years imprisonment on each count, with the sentences to run concurrently. Additionally, they were ordered to pay a fine of N1 million on each count.