Minna: Man sentenced for attempting to sell child

A man who intended to sell his child for N10 million has been jailed for five years by a Chief Magistrate Court in Minna.
The accused, 30 year old Isah Aliyu contacted one Magaji Atiku with the intention of selling his nine year old son for N10 million.
He attributed his act to poverty.
Though the asking price was N10m, Magaji succeeded in beating the price down to N7m to which the accused agreed to.
Magaji however told Aliyu that he would pay half of the price for the boy and promised to balance the remaining after he was through with what he needed the boy for but Aliyu disagreed insisting that the money must be paid in full.
Seeing the seriousness of Aliyu to sell his son, Magaji excused himself under the pretext of going to source for the money and reported the incident to the police.
The police then followed Magaji to the meeting place and arrested Aliyu, who was still waiting for the money to  handover his son.
Aliyu was then charged to court based on the Niger state Child’s Right Act.
Aliyu pleaded guilty to the charges read by the Chief Magistrate Hassan Mohammed and was summarily sentenced to five years imprisonment.
In his ruling, the Chief Magistrate said that because Aliyu was a first-time offender, the court would be lenient with him.
He sentenced Aliyu to five years imprisonment without an option of fine, adding that he had the right to appeal within 30 days of the judgment.