By Jude-Ken Ojinnaka
Justice Nicholas Oweibo of a Federal High Court sitting in Lagos on Monday convicted and sentenced two drug traffickers, Suleiman Tunde Oba and Salami Hakeem Babatunde to 10 years imprisonment each for trafficking in 25.10 kilograms of Ephedrine, a prohibited drug.
The two men were given the jail-term by the trial judge after they pleaded guilty to two counts-charge of conspiracy and trafficking in the banned substance.
However, Edet Godwin Matthew, another alleged drug trafficker arraigned alongside the two convicted men, denied committing the offence and pleaded not guilty to the charge.
According to the charge preferred against the defendants by the prosecutor, Mr. Augustine Nwagu, the two convicted men and Edet Godwin Matthew had conspired with one Maruf Olasunkanmi Akande, who is now at large, to commit the illegal act on August 25, 2023.
According to the prosecutor, the convicted men were arrested with the drug, during outward clearance of passengers of Rwandair flight to Johannesburg, South Africa at the boarding gate of Murtala Mohammed International Airport, Ikeja, Lagos.
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He submitted that the offences committed by the convicted men, contravened Sections 14(b) and 11(b) of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency Act Cap N30 Laws of the Federation of Nigeria, 2004. And punishable under the same Act.
Counsel to the convicted drug traffickers, Chief Benson Ndakara and G. Okenyi, pleaded with the court to tamper justice with mercy in sentencing their clients.
They prayed the court to consider the guilty plea of the clients as a sign of remorse as they did not waste the precious time of the court. They added that the convicts have promised not to engage in any form of crimes if given second chance.
They particularly urged the court to consider non-custodian sentence and fine option in lieu of the custodian sentence.
In his judgement, Justice Nicholas Oweibo sentenced each of the convicts to five years imprisonment on charges of conspiracy and drug trafficking.
The judge however gave an option of fine of N1 million on each of the counts.
He ordered that the jail-term shall run concurrently while the fine option shall be consecutively, ordering that each of convicted men should serve five years jail-term or pay the fine of N2 million.