Pastor Bawa Madaki, a Kaduna State-based cleric, has been sentenced to 14 years’ imprisonment for trafficking two children, aged five and seven years old.
The man was sentenced to jail by a High Court in Nasarawa State.
According to Punch Metro, it was learnt that Madaki was sentenced on Monday without an option of fine in a judgment delivered by Justice Haruna Offor at the court sitting in the Mararaba area.
It was gathered that 48-year-old Madaki was arrested by the police in May 2015, before he was handed over to operatives of the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons and other related matters.
The pastor was reportedly arraigned on two counts of fraudulently procuring the two underage children from their parents in the Zanzo Kataf Local Government Area of Kaduna State.
Madaki subsequently sent one child to Lagos State in “an illegal adoption arrangement and the other to Abuja as a domestic worker, thus depriving their parents of the children.”
The NAPTIP Head of Press and Public Relations, Josiah Emerole, said Madaki’s actions contravened Section 19 (e) of the Trafficking in Persons (Prohibition) Law Enforcement and Administration Act.
Emerole said, “A cleric, Pastor Bawa Madaki, from Kaduna State, has been sentenced to 14 years’ imprisonment for child trafficking. The accused was arraigned on two counts of fraudulently procuring two underage children from their parents.
“The trial commenced on June 23, 2015, and on Monday, March 26, 2018, the court found the accused guilty.
“The Director-General, NAPTIP, Julie Okah-Donli, has therefore cautioned the public against illegal adoption and engagement of underage children as domestic workers, who are often maltreated and abused by their employers.
“We warn detractors to desist from such acts as the long arm of the law will catch up with them if they fail to do so. This brings the convictions secured by NAPTIP to 342.”