Following a series of arrests and successful prosecutions by the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), two notorious cocaine barons, Uwaezuoke Ikenna Christian and Agbo Chidike Prince, have been sentenced to life imprisonment. This significant development was revealed in a statement issued by Femi Babafemi, the spokesperson of the NDLEA, and shared with Channels Television on Sunday.
Uwaezuoke Ikenna Christian, a 43-year-old businessman, initiated his journey towards a lifetime behind bars when he was first apprehended by NDLEA operatives on March 19, 2022, at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport in Abuja. Upon his arrest, he was found to have ingested 100 wraps of cocaine weighing 2.243 kilograms.
Despite being granted bail after pleading not guilty, Uwaezuoke absconded, leading to the revocation of his bail and the issuance of an arrest warrant. In a remarkable turn of events, he was arrested again on August 1, 2023, at the Murtala Mohammed International Airport in Lagos, while attempting to export 1.822 kilograms of cocaine to India under a different name and passport.
Subsequently, he pleaded guilty to the charges against him and was convicted and sentenced to seven years in prison or a fine of ₦1,500,000.00. However, due to his lack of remorse and status as a repeat offender, he was later convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment on March 20, 2024.
Agbo Chidike Prince, aged 42, met a similar fate after he was apprehended at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport in Abuja on October 21, 2023. He had ingested 49 wraps of cocaine weighing 998.73 grams and subsequently pleaded guilty to the charges against him. Despite his plea, the court, recognizing the severity of the offense and the commercial quantity of the drug, sentenced him to life imprisonment on April 15, 2024.
Meanwhile, the NDLEA reported another arrest made at the Lagos airport on April 26, where a passenger named Yahaya Danjuma Oturah was apprehended while attempting to export 4,000 pills of tramadol 225mg to Malpensa, Italy. The psychoactive substance was concealed in women’s clothing and granulated melon packed in the suspect’s backpack. Oturah confessed to being hired to courier the drugs for €700 upon successful delivery in Italy.
In Bayelsa, NDLEA operatives arrested 28-year-old Jennifer Iliya for baking and distributing cakes baked with illicit drugs, particularly cannabis sativa. Substantial quantities of these drugged cakes were recovered from her possession. Additionally, two suspects, Joseph Dadik and Bensha Yari, were arrested in Kaduna with 24,180 ampoules of pentazocine injection, while Adamu Umar was nabbed in Adamawa with 20.700kg of cannabis. Further drug seizures were made in Mushin, Lagos, where 310.7kg of cannabis was recovered, and in Kano, where Stanley Chukwudi was arrested with 5,900 ampoules of pentazocine injection.
The NDLEA also commended its officers and men for their diligent efforts in prosecuting drug-related cases, emphasizing that there is no escape route for individuals involved in drug trafficking. The Agency lauded various commands across the country for intensifying drug supply and demand reduction activities as part of the War Against Drug Abuse (WADA) campaign. Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (Retd), Chairman/Chief Executive Officer of NDLEA, expressed satisfaction with the success rate of cases prosecuted by the Agency, underscoring the commitment to combating drug trafficking and abuse nationwide.
