Before Their Lordships
MAHMUD MOHAMMED Justice of The Supreme Court of Nigeria
JOHN AFOLABI FABIYI Justice of The Supreme Court of Nigeria
BODE RHODES-VIVOUR Justice of The Supreme Court of Nigeria
MARY UKAEGO PETER-ODILI Justice of The Supreme Court of Nigeria
KUMAI BAYANG AKA’AHS Justice of The Supreme Court of Nigeria
Between
BLESSING TOYIN OMOKUWAJO –Appellant
AND
FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF NIGERIA –Respondent
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JOHN AFOLABI FABIYI, J.S.C. (Delivering the Leading Judgment): This is an appeal against the judgment of the Court of Appeal, Sokoto Division (court below) delivered on 10th November, 2010. Therein, the conviction of the appellant by the Federal High Court, Sokoto (trial court) for offences under Sections 15(a) and 16 of the Trafficking in Persons (Prohibition) Law Enforcement and Administration Act, 2003 (as amended) was affirmed. The court below, in affirming the conviction of the appellant, also varied her sentence, suo motu, by increasing it from two years in respect of each count to run concurrently from the date of the appellant’s arrest as ordered by the trial court to 7 and 5 years respectively, also to run concurrently from the date of the appellant’s arrest which was on 21/02/2010.
The facts leading to this appeal are not in dispute. The appellant was arrested by Officers of the Nigerian Immigration Service (Anti-Human Trafficking Unit) on February 21, 2010 at Yauri in Kebbi State of Nigeria. She was handed over to Officers of the National Agency for the Prohibition of Traffic in Persons and Other Related Matters (NAPTIP) on February 23, 2010.
The appellant was thereafter arraigned on a six (6) count charge before the trial court on 16th March, 2010 for offences touching on human trafficking contrary to Sections 15(a) and 16 of the Trafficking in Persons (Prohibition) Law Enforcement and Administration Act 2003 (as amended). As extant on page 25 of the records, the appellant, on 16th March, 2010 pleaded guilty to all the six counts after the court noted at page 25 of the record thus;- ‘Charge read to accused who understand it and pleaded as follow.’ She was consequently summarily found guilty, convicted and sentenced to two (2) years imprisonment on each of the six counts contained in the charge; with an order that sentence should run concurrently with effect from the date of the appellant’s arrest.
