A Federal High Court in Lagos has convicted a 40-year-old mother of two, Helen Ese Idiji, and her 53-year-old landlady, Sa’adullah Rashidat, for their roles in the alleged dealing and storage of 28.8 kilogrammes of cannabis sativa, popularly known as marijuana.
The two women were convicted by Justice Friday Ogazi after they pleaded guilty to the charges brought against them by the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA).
The convicts were dragged before the court following their arrest on June 25, 2025, over the discovery of the banned substance at 15, Olumoko Street, Amukoko, Lagos — a property belonging to Rashidat, where the marijuana was allegedly kept.
In a charge marked FHC/L/CR/544/2026, the NDLEA prosecutor, Juliana Negedu, told the court that the two women committed offences bordering on conspiracy and unlawful dealing in cannabis.
While Idiji was slammed with two counts of conspiracy and unlawful dealing in the prohibited drug, her landlady faced two counts of conspiracy and illegal storage of the substance.
The prosecutor said their actions contravened Sections 14(b), 11(c), and 12 of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency Act, Cap N30, Laws of the Federation of Nigeria 2004.
Following their guilty plea, NDLEA’s Exhibit Keeper, Ogah Aliyu Mohammed, tendered the recovered exhibits before the court, which were admitted as evidence.
The prosecution subsequently urged the court to convict the women based on their plea, the evidence presented, and provisions of Section 274(2) of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act (ACJA) 2015.
However, counsel to the defendants, Dennis Warri, pleaded for leniency, describing his clients as first-time offenders with no previous criminal records.
Warri, who revealed that Idiji was his distant cousin, said the women had become remorseful, adding that economic hardship could not be used as an excuse for committing crime.
Citing relevant provisions of the ACJA 2015, the lawyer appealed to the court to consider a non-custodial sentence for the two women.
After confirming from the prosecution that the convicts had no previous criminal records, Justice Ogazi convicted them on the charges.
The judge, however, ordered that they be remanded at the Nigerian Correctional Service (NCoS) facility pending their sentencing on September 2.
