Posted by By ADESINA AIYEKOTI on
Lagos socialite, Akindele Ikumoluyi a.k.a. 'Ile-Eru" on Tuesday, at the Federal High Court, Lagos, bagged a total of 20 years imprisonment, on a four-count charge of cocaine trafficking.
Lagos socialite, Akindele Ikumoluyi a.k.a. 'Ile-Eru" on Tuesday, at the Federal High Court, Lagos, bagged a total of 20 years imprisonment, on a four-count charge of cocaine trafficking.
He was jailed five years on each count by the trial judge, Justice Tijani Abubakar, having pleaded guilty to the amended charges brought against him by the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) through its Director of Prosecution, Femi Oloruntoba.
Besides the sentences, Ile-Eru was also ordered to forfeit to the Federal Government of Nigeria, a landed property at Lekki-Ajah, Lagos.
Following an allocutus made by his counsel, Mr Wahab Shittu, urging the court to temper justice with mercy, Justice Abubakar held that the sentences should run concurrently, meaning that the convict would only spend the next three years in prison, having spent almost two years behind bars.
The convict was arrested in March 2006 by operatives of the NDLEA for offences of sponsoring hard drug trafficking outside the shores of Nigeria.
Delivering judgment, Justice Abubakar said as a judge, he had obligation to strike a balance, adding that, even, a common man deserves justice.
Prior to the conviction, Akindele had applied to the Court of Appeal, challenging the trial judge's decision remanding him in the prison custody, pending the determination of the case.
But the appellate court, in dismissing the application, agreed with the arguments canvassed by the NDLEA lead counsel, Mr Femi Oloruntoba that the application amounted to an abuse of judicial process.