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From Sola Ojo, Abuja
Justice Abimbola Awogboro of the Federal High Court sitting in Ilorin, Kwara State, has sentenced a 50-year-old truck driver, Kasimu Bawa, to two years’ imprisonment for unlawfully transporting 25 tons of lithium-bearing minerals valued at about N2.4 million.
The court also ordered the forfeiture of the DAF truck used in conveying the minerals, alongside the seized consignment, to the Federal Government.
According to Spokesman for the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Dele Oyewale, Bawa was prosecuted by the Ilorin Zonal Directorate of the agency on a one-count charge bordering on unlawful possession of minerals without lawful authority.
According to the charge, the convict was arrested in September 2022 at Share along Tsaragi Road in Edu Local Government Area of Kwara State while transporting the minerals in a truck bearing registration number KEY 777ZF.
Although Bawa pleaded not guilty at arraignment on November 1, 2022, the prosecution proceeded to a full trial and presented two witnesses, including a Chief Remote Sensing Officer with the Nigerian Geological Survey Agency, Ifarinde Odeyemi.
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Odeyemi told the court that laboratory analysis confirmed the seized substance to be lepidolite, a lithium-bearing mineral.
In his final address, prosecution counsel, Innocent Mbachie, urged the court to convict the defendant, arguing that the prosecution had proved its case beyond a reasonable doubt.
He also sought the forfeiture of both the truck and the minerals.
Delivering judgment, Justice Awogboro convicted Bawa and sentenced him to two years’ imprisonment with an option of a N5 million fine.
The judge further ordered that the truck and the 25 tons of minerals be forfeited to the Federal Government.
Bawa was driving a truck allegedly used to transport minerals purchased illegally by a Chinese national, Gang Deng, who had earlier been convicted and sentenced to five years imprisonment by the same court on October 19, 2022.
