NDLEA secures conviction, sentencing of two men to various jail terms for drug trafficking.
By Jude-Ken Ojinnaka
A 21 year-old Tricyclist, Oroke Michael Chibueze and one Eze Ifeanyi Remigius, were convicted and sentenced to 15 years imprisonment by a Federal High Court sitting in Lagos for trafficking in 1, 455 kilograms of Cannabis Sativa, also known as marijuana or Indian Hemp
Justice Tijjani Ringim, convicted the two men after they pleaded guilty to the charges preferred against them by the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA).
The two convicts, were earlier arraigned before the court alongside a 27 year-old woman, Eze Joy Chioma, sometimes in 2022, on a three count-charge of unlawful possession and transportation of the said banned weed.
Eze Joy Chioma and the first Convict, Eze Ifeanyi Remigius of 2, Oluokun Street, white House bus stop, off Abule Aka road, Okokomaiko, Lagos state, were arraigned with two count-charge of unlawful possession of 1,426 kilograms concealed in 32 and a half bags.
They were said to have warehoused the drug in their kitchen and rooms of their house.
The tricyclist was said have unlawfully transported two brown cartons containing 29 kilograms of cannabis sativa, which he concealed inside his Tricycle, popularly called Keke NAPEP, and kept same at the the back of St. Patrick’s Catholic Church Alaba, near Okokomaiko, Lagos State.
According to their charge filed before the court by the prosecutor Mr Umar Hussain, the offences contravened Sections 20(c), 11(b)and 12 of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency Act, Cap N30 Laws of the Federation of Nigeria 2004 (as amended) and punishable under the same Act.
Both the convicts and the woman had pleaded not guilty to the charges when they were arraigned.
However, at the resumed hearing of the matter on Wednesday, the convicts, told the court of their intentions to change their earlier plea of ‘not guilty’ to ‘guilty’ while the woman, Eze Joy Chioma, maintained her not guilty plea.
Upon the the convicts’ intention to change the plea, the court allowed the prosecutor to review the facts of the charge, and tendered exhibits, while adjourned till Thursday for trial.
Delivering judgment in the charge, Justice Ringim pronounced the two convicts guilty as charged.
However, lawyer to the convicts, Dennis Warri, in his allocutus, pleaded with the court to be lenient in sentencing his clients, whom he said are first time offenders without any previous record of conviction.
After citing plethoras of legal authorities, Mr Warri urged the court to give convicts an option of fine in lieu of custodian sentence.
After considering the counsel’s submission, Justice Ringing in his judgement sentenced the tricyclist to five years imprisonment without of fine, while the second convict, Eze Ifeanyi Remigius, was sentenced to five years in count one with an option of N1 million and five years in count three without an option of fine.
The court ordered that the jail term shall run concurrently, while subsequently, the trial of the only woman in the charge, Eze Joy Chioma, was fixed for December 13.
