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Court jails two in Lagos over illicit drug deal

By Joseph Onyekwere
22 May 2018   |   3:29 am
A Federal High Court in Lagos yesterday sentenced two men, Okonkwo Victor Chukwuma and Bankole Johnson to 24 months imprisonment for importing 220 grams of cocaine. Delivering the judgment, Justice Hadiza Rabiu-Shagari ...

A Federal High Court in Lagos yesterday sentenced two men, Okonkwo Victor Chukwuma and Bankole Johnson to 24 months imprisonment for importing 220 grams of cocaine. Delivering the judgment, Justice Hadiza Rabiu-Shagari said the prosecution had proved its case beyond every reasonable doubt.She however ordered that the term would start to run from the first date that the National Drugs Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) arrested them.

According to the charge, operatives of the NDLEA arrested the convicts on July 27, 2017 at the EMS section of Marina Post Office in Lagos Island, where they had gone to receive the banned drug.

They were subsequently charged before the court sometimes in October 2017, on a one-count charge of unlawful importation of the said banned drug.The offence, according to the prosecutor, Mr. Adekunle Adebanjo, is contrary to and punishable under section 11(a) of the NDLEA Act, Cap N30, Laws of the Federation of Nigeria, 2014. 
During their initial arraignment, they pleaded not guilty to the charge and were admitted to bail in various terms and conditions.

“Each of the defendants is hereby guilty as charged, and they are hereby convicted,” the judge held.After pronouncing them guilty, Justice Rabiu-Shagari asked the convicts’ counsels, Anthony Nnamoko and M. Ogunleye for their plea.

The counsels urged the court to tamper justice with mercy in sentencing their clients. They told the court that the convicts who are first time offenders had become sober since they were arrested, and had promised not to involve in such act, if given a second chance.

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