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A Magistrate’s Court sitting in Aramoko Ekiti has sentenced a pastor and eight others to six- month imprisonment for failure to provide toilet facilities in their houses.
The convicts were also jailed for other sanitation offences like practicing open defecation and refusing to provide waste bins within their vicinities.
They were brought to court from communities like Aramoko, Erio, Ido Ile, all in Ekiti West Local Government Area of the state.
Out of the 18 people arraigned before the Magistrate court by Local Government Environmental Health Officers, nine pleaded guilty to the offences and were convicted.
The convicted are: Pastor Olaleye Isaac, Chief Ologun Ala, Mr. Titus Ibironke, Chief Jacob Taiwo, Mr. Sunday Adesoba, Mrs. Olu Obateru, Mr. Adetoyinbo, Mr. Agboola and Mr. Atoro.
The presiding Magistrate, Mr. Abayomi Adeosun, sentenced the accused persons to six months imprisonment with options of fines ranging from N5,000 to N15,000.
While lamenting the environmental nuisance caused by open defecation, he held that the sentence would serve as a deterrence to others.
The Magistrate also issued a bench warrant for the arrest of nine other persons who failed to appear in court for similar offences.
He further directed the Police to present them for prosecution on April 25, 2019.
Addressing journalists after the conviction, Chief Prosecutor, Ekiti West Local Government, Mr. Ebenezer Fashipe lamented that citizens valued their wealth more than their health.
Fashipe assured that the local government will continue to prosecute households without toilets until open defecation is eradicated in the area.
