By Lukman Olabiyi
The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has secured the conviction of a physically challenged man, Ehiarimwian Osarobo Emmanuel and Olagunju Abass Ayodeji, who were arrested for smuggling tramadol, a prohibited drug.
The convicted smugglers were sentenced to five and three years imprisonment, respectively, by the Federal High Court, Lagos, last Friday, after they both pleaded guilty to a count charge each made against them by the anti-narcotic agency.
Arraigning the convicts on separate charges marked FHC/L/489c/2022 and FHC/L/504c/2022, before the court, the prosecutors, Abu Ibrahim and Augustine Nwagu, informed the court that Ehiarimwian was arrested on August 28, 20022, at the departure hall of the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Ikeja, Lagos, during the outward clearance of passengers, with 2.65 kilograms of tramadol 225mg, which he intended to smuggle to Milan, Italy.
The second convict, 25-year-old Olagunju, was arrested on August 24, 2022, at the departure hall of Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Ikeja, during the outward clearance of passengers, with 400 grams of tramadol, which he wanted to smuggle to Oman, an Asia country.
The prosecutor told the court that the offence committed by the convicts contravened Sections 11(b) and 20(1)(a) of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency Act Cap. N30, Laws of the Federation of Nigeria, 2004 and punishable under section 20(2)(a) of the same Act. The convicts pleaded guilty to the charge.
Following their guilty plea, the prosecutors urged the court to sentence them according to the sections of the law they were charged with.
But the convicts’ lawyers, in their allocutus, pleaded with the court to temper justice with mercy in sentencing their clients, as they were first time offenders, and for not wasting the court’s precious time in pleading guilty to the charges against them. One of the lawyers, Dennis Warri, who represented the first convict, Ehiarimwian, told the court that his client was using the banned drug as a reliever, due to his state of health, which he had been battling with since his childhood.
The lawyers urged the court to give their clients an option of fine in lieu of the custodian sentence.
Justice Osiagor, in his judgment, sentenced the convicts to three and five years imprisonments, respectively.
The judge however, gave the first convict, Ehiarimwian, an option of N50, 000, fine, while the second convict, Olagunju, was given fine of N30, 000, in lieu of custodian sentence.
The judge also ordered that the bulk of the seized tramadol be destroyed by the NDLEA, if there is no appeal against the judgment within the stipulated period, and that the convicts’ international passport be confiscated by the federal government of Nigeria.