TheCable

A magistrates’ court in Minna, Niger state capital, has sentenced Abubakar Abdullahi, an Islamic teacher, to seven years imprisonment for having anal sex with 35 of his pupils.

Abdullahi, a resident of Sabon Gari, Kontagora, was charged with “unnatural offence”, contrary to section 284 of the penal code law.

Daniel Ikwoche, the police prosecutor, had told the court that one Murtala Abdullahi, a Hisbah commander in Kontagora local government area, reported the matter at the police division in Kontagora on July 22.

Ikwoche said the complainant alleged that the accused lured 35 of his pupils who are between the ages of 9 and 14 years into his room and had anal intercourse with them on different occasions between March and July.

When the charge was read to him, Abdullahi pleaded guilty and begged the court for leniency.

The prosecutor, thereafter, prayed the court to try him summarily in line with section 157 of the criminal procedure code.

In her ruling, Hauwa Yusuf, a magistrate, sentenced Abdullahi to seven years in prison with hard labour.

Yusuf, however, said the convict will have the option of a N2 million fine after serving the first four years of his sentence.