Nine women arrested by the Abuja Environmental Protection Board (AEPB) yesterday pleaded guilty to the prostitution charge levelled against them when they appeared before the AEPB mobile court sitting at the Old Parade Ground, Area 10, Garki.
Arraigned alongside the women were 34 street hawkers, who were arrested for contravening the ban on street hawking in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
Those arrested were said to have been arrested at different hot spots within the city by a joint task force of AEPB and a non-governmental organisation (NGO), Society Against Prostitution and Child Labour in Nigeria.
AEPB prosecutor, Mr. Eze Eze, told the court that the offences contravene Section 35, Subsection 1 (h) of the AEPB Act No. 10 of 1997.
Nine out of the commercial sex workers, namely Amanda Okonye, Aisha Usman,? Kadijat Yakubu, Zainab Mohammed, Faith Okafor, Freda Okonye, Binta Adamu, Aisha Abdul and
Mercy Uke pleaded guilty when the charge was read to them.
Trial magistrate, Aminu Abdullahi sentenced them to two-months’ imprisonment each, with an option of N5000 fine while the fifth accused person, Janet Ogah, who pleaded not guilty was admitted to bail in the sum of N40, 000.
The magistrate ordered that she must produce a surety, resident in Abuja whose address must be verified by AEPB, with a reasonable means of income and adjourned the case to July 12, 2011.
Similarly, 32 out of the 34 arrested street hawkers who admitted to the offence were sentenced to two months’ imprisonment each with an option of N2000 fine, as the other two pleaded not guilty.
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