Court orders three men whipped for loitering in Nigeria

A Karmo Grade 1 Area Court, Abuja, on Wednesday ordered that three men should be given six lashes of cane each for loitering at the Hill Top Garden, Abuja.

Daniel Lucky, Aliyu Ahmed and Badiru Lawal were arraigned for constituting “nuisance” at a black spot.

The judge, Abubakar Sadiq, warned them to desist from crime.

Mr. Abubakar imposed the punishment following admission of guilt by the trio, who, however, prayed the court to temper justice with mercy and promised to be of good behaviour.

They claimed their action resulted from bad peer influence.

Earlier, the prosecutor, Florence Avhioboh, told the court that a police patrol team in Utako, Abuja, led by Jimoh Gbende arrested the men on September 30.

“They were caught at a black spot at Hill Top Garden, opposite the Wuse Market,” she said.

Ms. Avhioboh said the men had been warned in the past by the police to stop loitering there.

“During police investigation, the men could not give satisfactory answers to what they were doing at the black spot,’’ she said.

She told the court that the offence was punishable under Section 199 of the Penal Code.

-NAN