Thursday 9 August 2012

Court jails grandmother for begging with underage children

The Lagos State Special Offences
Court, Alausa, Ikeja, on
Wednesday, sentenced a 52-year-
old grandmother, Mrs. Jemilat
Oseni, to three months
imprisonment for “using five
underage children to beg for
alms”.
Two other women- Mrs. Rainat
Ado and Mrs. Zainab Abubakar-
were fined N10, 000 each for
releasing their children to Oseni
for the purpose of alms begging.
A prosecutor from the state’s
Ministry of Justice, said the acts
were “illegal and a violation of
the rights of the children”.
The prosecutor, who did not give
her name, said, “Four of the
children were not hers.
“Two belonged to Mrs. Rainat
Ado; one belonged to Mrs. Zainat
Abubakar; one is her grand child.
Only the last is her child.”
It was learnt that Oseni, who is
from Osun State, was arrested
while begging for alms with the
children by officials of the state
Taskforce on Environmental and
Special Offences (Enforcement)
Unit at Seme Border.
The children were put between
nine months and 11 years old.
However, both Abubakar and
Ado claimed ignorance of what
Oseni did with their children.
Ado said, “Oseni told me that she
wanted to use the children as
cover to smuggle some goods
from Benin Republic.
“She explained that the children
would make custom officials at
the border to pity her and allow
her to go with her goods.”
She added that Oseni usually give
her some quantity of rice after
the trip to Seme.
It was learnt that a worker with
the state Ministry of Women
Affairs and Poverty Alleviation
saw the woman and the children
at Seme and promptly reported
the matter to the task force
officials.
The court also ruled that the five
children be kept in custody of
WAPA.

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