Posted by By BONIFACE NZAMA, Calabar on
For turning gutters, nearby bushes and other public places to toilets, seven persons in Calabar have been sentenced to five months jail term each.
For turning gutters, nearby bushes and other public places to toilets, seven persons in Calabar have been sentenced to five months jail term each. The seven persons, convicted by the state magistrate's court 7, Wene Ofonieneme Ufia, Ifeanyi Okeke, Susana John, Patience John, Okene John, Kufre John and Chuks Agu.
In lieu of the five-month jail term, the convicts were to pay a fine of N7,000 each.
Some of the convicted persons who pleaded guilty while standing in the witness box, however made futile attempt to plead for clemency as they claimed that it was the duty of their landlords to provide toilet facilities in the rented residential houses.
In the ruling of the court, the chief magistrate said the sentence was in line with the Cross River State sanitation law, which prohibited indiscriminate dumping of refuse, stooling in gutter and other places.
While it was supposed to be 15-mouth imprisonment with an option of N11.000 each, the Chief magistrate said the sentence was communed to five-month with N7,000 option of fine, as the victims pleaded guilty before the commencement of the trial.
It was apparent that the convicts preferred to pay the N7,000 fine, as some of them left the court room, promising to sink toilets in their respective houses before the middle of next month.
Some of them who were arrested at Number 2 Umoh Edem Street, Calabar, said "if the landlord does not want to provide a toilet for us, we can contribute money to dig a put toilet, so that this embarrassment will stop.
However, some of them said, they had started a process of providing good toilets for themselves, before they were arrested.