Justice Uche Agomoh of the Federal High Court sitting in ibadan has sentenced forty one illegal miners apprehended at Onipanu Village in Ibadan to six years imprisonment.
Justice Agomoh gave the judgment following the conclusion of the prosecution’s review of the case.
The defendants were arraigned on a two-count charge bordering on conspiracy and illegal mining
Justice Agomoh pronounced that both count would run for three years concurrently.
The Police prosecuting counsel, Mr Michael Ojeah, had told the court that the forty one defendants, on January 25, 2024, at Onipanu Village in the Ibadan Judicial Division, conspired with one another to commit felony.
Earlier during the continuation of the prosecution’s review of the case, Mr Ojeah called Inspector Abiola Awosanmi, who led a team of security operatives that arrested the defendants as witness, to testify before Justice Agomoh.
Inspector Awosanmi presented in evidence, items recovered from the illegal miners to include eight headpans, twenty six shovels, twenty diggers, eleven cutlasses, generator, pumping machine, torchlight, sledge hammers, pliers, axe, hoes, iron file, twenty grammes of raw gold valued at one million two hundred and forty eight thousand naira and cash of five hundred thousand naira.
The defendants’ counsel, Mr Suraj Dambaba did not object to the evidence presented.
Mr Dambaba had earlier pleaded before Justice Agomoh to temper justice with mercy as the defendants were first offenders who were displaced from their village in Zamfara state by bandits where they worked as labourers.
Justice Agomoh rejected the plea of the defendants’ counsel stressing that ignorance is not admissible in law.
Mr Dambaba while reacting to the judgment said the law has taken its due course.
He noted that his office would review the fact of the judgment before taking the next step.
