Justice Ibrahim Kala of the Federal High Court in Lagos yesterday convicted and sentenced a 28-year-old man, Festus Iheakara, to two years imprisonment for attempting to export 9.80 kilograms of Indian hemp to Oman.
Justice Kala jailed Iheakara after he pleaded guilty to a one-count charge of drug trafficking brought against him by the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA).
The prosecutor, Augustine Nwagu, had earlier informed the judge that the convict was arrested with the prohibited substance on April 18, 2024, at the Departure Hall of Terminal 11 of Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Ikeja, Lagos, during the outward clearance of passengers on an Ethiopian Airline flight to Oman via Addis Ababa.
The prosecutor told the court that the convict’s action contravened section 11(b) of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency Act Cap N30 Laws of the Federation of Nigeria, 2004.
Based on the guilty plea, the prosecutor tendered some exhibits through a witness, Heldar Dogo, an exhibit keeper.
Nwagu also urged the court to sentence the convict by the section of the law under which he was charged.
However, the defence lawyer, Chief Benson Ndakara, in his allocutus, pleaded with the court to temper justice with mercy, stating that his client was a first-time convict with no previous record of conviction.
He pointed out to the court that the convict did not waste the court’s precious time and that he was misled by those wiser than him.
Ndakara also urged the court to consider imposing an option of a fine on the convict instead of a custodial sentence.
In his judgment, Justice Kala sentenced the convict to two years imprisonment but ordered him to pay a N500,000 fine instead of the jail term.
