Posted by By Simon Ateba on
Following very light penalties slammed on 20 drug convicts last month, at the Federal High Court, Ikoyi, Lagos, the chairman of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA, Ahmadu Giade, at the weekend, declared that the judiciary is undermining the war against drug trafficking in the country.
Following very light penalties slammed on 20 drug convicts last month, at the Federal High Court, Ikoyi, Lagos, the chairman of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA, Ahmadu Giade, at the weekend, declared that the judiciary is undermining the war against drug trafficking in the country.
After learning about the conviction of the 20 drug traffickers last month, Giade said: 'We are absolutely opposed to a situation where drug offenders get away with light sentences. It is counter-productive and definitely not encouraging for the drug war.''
NDLEA in a statement yesterday, by its Head of Public Affairs, Mr. Ofoyeju Mitchell, disclosed that last month alone, among the 20 drug traffickers convicted at the Ikoyi Federal High Court, only four got five-year jail terms with an option of fine of N500,000.
The Director General of NDLEA, Otunba Lanre Ipinmisho, had disclosed last month, that a kilogramme of cocaine is worth N4 million.
The four convicts that got the highest jail term of five years and were given N500,000 option of fine each, include Ogbonna Paul Eze, 36, caught with 1.132 kg cocaine; Tiase Gabriel Ogba, 33, caught with 1.428 kg of cocaine; Onyebuchi Nnamdi Patrick, 36, caught with 1.139 kg of cocaine and Akubuo Godwin Uchenna, 35, caught with 1.356 kg of cocaine.
Three others got two years imprisonment each, with one of them, Ukah Christian Okorie, 33, caught with 7.6 kg of cannabis given an option of N200,000 fine. The other two are Nwokedi Tagbo Jerome, 35, caught with 1.126 kg of cocaine and Barry Issah, 27, caught with 6.5 kg of cocaine.
Similarly, Yunusa Umaru, 28, caught with 530 grammes of cannabis sentenced to 12 months imprisonment while Okpalanne Andrew Emeka, 27, caught with 2.430 kg of cocaine also got 12 months with an option of N500,000 fine.
Obijiaku Harrison Ifeanyi, 34, arrested with 2.110 kg of cocaine was the only convict that was sentenced to 11 months imprisonment. He, however, was given an option of N380, 000 fine. Four others got ten months imprisonment each with options of fine. They are Alugwo Kingsley Uka,33, nabbed with 1.810 kg of cocaine and Ezike Ugochukwu,34, arrested with 2.009 kg of cocaine. Both were given N400,000 fine. Chime Okechukwu, 34, arrested with 840 grammes of cocaine got a fine of N450,000, while Austine Samuel Nosakhare, 36, caught with 1.037 kg of cocaine was given a fine of N350,000 fine.
Three other convicts were given nine months imprisonment each. They are Nwosu Emenike Hippolite,43, caught with 962 grammes of cocaine and Okoro Francis, 23, arrested with 1.122 kg of cocaine, both of whom were given N300,000 option of fine each and Adams Chairs, 34, arrested with 1.244 kg of cocaine that was given N350,000 option of fine. The only female among them, Avenbuan Caroline,32, caught with 1.695 kg of cocaine got seven months imprisonment with an option of N200,000 fine. The remaining two convicts, Rotijesi Oluwasanmi, 26, and Eweje Tobi, 22, both of whom were caught with 87 grammes of cannabis were sentenced to two months imprisonment each.
In the US, a drug trafficker caught with over one kilogramme of cocaine bags at least 14 years jail term. In some Arab and Middle East countries, drug convicts are simply executed. Many Nigerians caught with various drugs have been sentenced to death or given life imprisonment in recent times in Islamic countries with strict laws against the sale and consumption of narcotics.