American returnee bags two years imprisonment for illicit frug trafficking
By Jude-Ken Ojinnaka
Justice Akintayo Aluko of a Federal High Court sitting in Lagos on Wednesday, convicted and sentenced one Stanley Obinna Nwora, who returned from the United States of America recently, to two (2) years imprisonment over unlawful importation and possession of illicit substance analysed as Cannabis Sativa (Indian hemp).
Stanley who was arraigned by the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) on a two-count charge before the court had pleaded guilty to the charges preferred against him.
After pleading ‘guilty’ to the charge which was read to him on arraignment, the prosecution was unable to review the facts of the offence due to unavailability of the exhibits keeper. The prosecutor then asked for a short adjournment to come back for the review of facts. Consequently, Justice Aluko adjourned the matter till Wednesday June 21 for review of facts of the offences and sentence of the convict.
In reviewing the facts of the offences on Wednesday, the prosecutor, Mr. Umar Hussain, told the court that the convict, a resident of 6, Moses Ebitu, SPG Road Ologolo, Lekki, Lagos, was arrested with 543 grams of Cannabis Sativa popularly called Indian Hemp, on May 17, 2023.
He told the court that the offences which the convict was charged with contravened Sections 11(a) 19 of the NDLEA Act Cap. N30 Laws of the Federation, 2004 (as amended).
The prosecutor also called a witness, Mr. Moses Dogo, an operative in the agency, who tendered all exhibits in the matter.
Upon admitting the exhibits, the prosecutor urged the court to sentence the convict in accordance with the Sections of the NDLEA Act by which he was charged.
But pleading for leniency, the convict’s counsel, Chief Benson Ndakara, in his allocutus, pleaded with the court to tamper justice with mercy in sentencing his client, submitted that he is a first time offender, without any record of previous conviction.
Ndakara also told the court that his client was a victim of circumstances, who was deceived by friends, to collect a parcel which he did not know the content.
He urged the court to consider none custodial sentence for his client or an option of fine in lieu of jail terms.
After listening to submissions of counsel to parties, the judge sentenced the convict to one year in each of the counts, adding that the sentence shall run concurrently.
However, the judge ordered the convict to pay the sum of N300, 000, in lieu of the jail-term.