A Chief Magistrates’ Court sitting in Wuse, Abuja, has convicted three motorists of careless driving and obstructing other road users along the Nnamdi Azikiwe Expressway.
Chief Magistrate Oyepeju Mustapha imposed non-custodial, suspended sentences on Adegoke Olayinka, Ernest Jamma and Yarima Patrick after they pleaded guilty to the traffic offence.
The court also ordered each convict to sign an undertaking not to commit a similar offence or violate any other road traffic regulation.
Mustapha further directed officers of the Nigeria Police Force at the Utako Division in Abuja to release the vehicles belonging to the three motorists.
Earlier, prosecuting counsel Chinenye Okafor told the court that the defendants drove their vehicles carelessly and caused an obstruction to other road users along the Nnamdi Azikiwe Expressway by Berger Bridge, Abuja.
Okafor said their conduct contravened Section 41 of the Road Traffic Act.
The three motorists admitted the offence and pleaded guilty to the charge.
Their counsel, Enagonimi Ekpede, pleaded with the court to show mercy, explaining that the defendants were first-time offenders with families who did not waste the court’s time by contesting the charge.
The court consequently adopted a non-custodial approach by suspending their sentences and requiring them to formally undertake to comply with road traffic laws.