A Gwagwalada Magistrates’ Court in Abuja has ruled that two lovers were guilty of adultery and sentenced Mohammed Nazifi, 30, and Bilkisu Ibrahim, 25, to three months imprisonment each for the offence.
Both lovers’ journey to prison began when the police charged them with a one-count charge of adultery and they pleaded guilty.
Prosecutor, Dabo Yakubu, told the court that the complainant, Dayabe Abdullahi of Chibiri village, Kuje, Abuja, reported the matter at the Area Command, Gwagwalada, Abuja on January 16th.
Oladunmoye sentenced the lovers to three months imprisonment each with an option of N25,000 fine each.
The Magistrate said the essence of the punishment was not to ruin or destroy the convicts but to reform them and to also serve as a deterrent to any married person wishing to toe the same path.
According to Yakubu, the accused persons conspired and had sexual intercourse, although the woman was married to her husband, a conduct that contravened the provisions of sections 387 and 388 of the Penal Code.
The Prosecutor said both confessed to the crime in their statements.
According to him, sections 387 and 388 refer to a man or a woman subject to customary law where extra-marital sexual intercourse was recognised as a criminal offence.
“If the man or woman has sexual intercourse with anyone other than his spouse, he/she is guilty of adultery and shall be punished with imprisonment for a term. The term may extend to two years or with fine or with both,” he said.
When the charge was read out, Nazifi pleaded with the court to temper justice with mercy, saying he was a married man with little children to take care of.
Bilkisu, the woman, also begged the court for mercy, saying she had a three-year-old child and an aged mother, who depended on her.
The Magistrate, Olatunji Oladunmoye, had previously remanded the convicts in order for them to provide a witness that would vouch for their conduct of good character.
He finally sentenced them when they could not provide any.
