Vagrancy: Four Youths Get Three Months Jail Term In Abuja

An Abuja Grade 1 Area Court in Karu on Tuesday sentenced four vagrants to three months in prison each for “joint act” and being a “public nuisance.” The convicts, Samuel Danjuma, 22; Yakubu Adamu, 18; Yakubu Bulus, 25, and Godwin Jacob, 20, of no fixed address, were sentenced after they pleaded guilty to the charges.
Presiding officer, Hassan Ishaq, however, gave them an option to pay a fine of N5,000 each after which he advised them to be of good behaviour.
“My advice is that all of you try and get something meaningful to do. The next time you appear before me, you will go to jail straight,” he said.
The defence counsel, from the Legal Aid Council, Vivian Kwa, applied for their bail under Section 36(5) of the 1999 Constitution, which presumes an accused person innocent until proven otherwise.
Earlier, the prosecutor, Omatiga Gabriel, a sergeant, told the court that the convicts were arrested by a team of policemen on May 17, at about 12am.
He said they were caught at the odd hour in front of a shop in Nyanya Market with the intention to commit an offence.
The prosecutor said that during investigation, they could not give satisfactory accounts of themselves. Their offences, he said, contravened the provisions of sections 79 and 199 of the Penal Code.