A Federal High Court, sitting in Lagos has sentenced a lady, Clara Onah, 35, to seven years imprisonment over manufacture,distribution and sale of fake drugs.
Onah was charged by the National Agency for Food, Drugs, Administration and Control (NAFDAC) on behalf of the Federal Government of Nigeria on five count charge bordering on possession and sale of fake drugs.
A graduate of Microbiology of the University of Nigeria and a postgraduate student of Mass Communication, Onah resides at No 12, Mosalashi St., Alagbado Lagos.
In the charge, the accused was said to have committed the offence on January 26,2016.
The prosecutor,Umaru Shamaki told the court that the accused sold fake brand of 200 mg of Amazon Amagyl a brand of Metronidazole tablets to members of the public.
When the accused was arraigned and the five count charge read to her in the earlier sitting, she had pleaded guilty to all.
Shamaki had therefore urged the court to remand the accused pending the review of facts.
At the hearing,Shamaki reviewed the facts of the case and presented the laboratory analysis of the confiscated drugs which showed that it was fake. The analysis, according to him showed that instead of 200 milligrams, it contains 20 milligrams, apart from the fact that it is fake too.
Counsel to the convict, Mr. Chinedu Moore in his allocutus pleaded for leniency and urged the court to temper justice with mercy. He submitted that apart from the fact that the convict was sick, she was a first offender who did not have the intent to manufacture or sell fake drugs.
The convict, amidst sobs also pleaded for mercy, saying she didn’t know the drugs were fake.
But the prosecution urged the court to award maximum sentence on her according to the law because she did the unlawful act intentionally. He added that the convict dribbled investigators endlessly, refusing to name her suppliers until she took them (investigator) to her house where incriminating materials were found indicating that she manufactured the drug herself.
He said that the convict is a graduate of Microbiology and therefore knew what she was doing, adding that apart from drug labels, the other material found in her house was a weighing scale.
