NAN-H-79
Sentence
By Sandra Umeh
Lagos, March 9, 2017 (NAN) A Federal High Court in Lagos on Thursday sentenced a 41-year-old trader, Okwudili Eboro, to 10-year imprisonment for drug trafficking.
Eboro was first arraigned in November 2012 on a charge of drug trafficking which he pleaded innocence of then.
He, however, changed his plea to being guilty when he was re-arraigned on the same charge on March 9.
Justice Mojisola Olatoregun sentenced Eboro to 10-year imprisonment with an option of N10 million fine.
Olatoregun held that the sentence should start from the day of the convict’s arrest.
She ordered that the convict should forfeit $2,000 recovered from him during his arrest to the Federal Government.
Earlier, in reviewing the facts of the case, the prosecutor, Mr Fingere Dinneys, tendered some evidence as exhibits.
They include: the statement of the accused, a request for scientific aid form; a drug analysis form and a bag of Metaphetamine
Dinneys said the accused had without any lawful authority exported about 4.3kg of Methamphetamine, a drug similar to Cocaine and Heroin.
“He was arrested on September 2012, at the departure hall of the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, during the outward clearance of an Ethiopian Airline flight to Addis Abba,’’ he said.
The offence contravened Section 11 (b) of the NDLEA Act, Cap N30, Laws of the Federation, 2004, he said.
The counsel to the accused, Mrs Vivienne Ekwegh, had urged the court to temper justice with mercy.
She said that the accused was a first-time offender and had already regretted his actions.
The accused in a statement read in court stated that he was a trader on Lagos Island and his business had suffered a set-back.
According to him, in the process of looking for help, he came across an old friend, one Daniel, who promised to help him with $5,000, if he could transport a bag of Metaphetamine abroad.
“I decided to do it because my wife was pregnant at that time and was suffering from high blood pressure,” the statement said.(NAN)
UNS/EOB/PAD
===========
Edited by Edith Bolokor/Peter Dada