The Federal High Court in Abuja has sentenced two drug kingpins, Uwaezuoke Ikenna Christian and Agbo Chidike Prince to life imprisonment for cocaine trafficking including exporting cocaine across continents.
Christian, 43 and Prince, 42 were arrested and arraigned before the court by the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA).
Christian was arrested by the NDLEA on March 19, 2022, at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja during the inward clearance of an Ethiopian Airlines flight from Addis Ababa, Ethiopia after he was found to have ingested 100 big wraps of cocaine weighing 2.243 kilograms.
Christian was subsequently arraigned before the court in charge number FHC/ABJ/CR/438/2022 and was granted bail on certain conditions after he pleaded not guilty.
Thereafter, the NDLEA’s Director of Media & Advocacy, Femi Babafemi, said that Christian absconded, forcing the court to revoke his bail and issue an arrest warrant against him.
With the arrest warrant, Christian was rearrested by the NDLEA on August 1, 2023, at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos while attempting to export 1.822 kilograms of cocaine to India through ingestion using a different passport and under a different name, Ilonzeh Kingsley Onyebuchi.
Following his rearrest, he was re-arraigned before Justice Nicholas Qweibo of the Federal High Court sitting in Lagos in charge number FHC/L/554C/2023.
Christian pleaded guilty to the two counts preferred against him by the NDLEA and on October 18, 2023, he was convicted and sentenced to seven years in prison with the option of a fine in the sum of N1,500,000.
Christian paid the fine and was transferred to Abuja to face the importation case pending against him, and on March 20, this year, he was re-arraigned before Justice Joyce Obehi Abdulmalik of the Federal High Court sitting in Abuja in charge number FHC/ABJ/CR/438/2022 where he pleaded guilty again.
However, despite his plea, the court held that it noticed Christian’s lack of remorse, the seriousness of drug-related offences and the fact that he was a repeat offender, hence, he was convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment.
Similarly, Prince was arrested at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja, during the outward clearance of an Ethiopian Airlines flight to Hong Kong on October 27, 2023, for ingesting 49 wraps of cocaine weighing 998.73 grams.
Upon his arraignment before Justice Joyce Obehi Abdulmalik of the Federal High Court sitting in Abuja, he pleaded guilty to the charge, prompting the prosecution to present evidence and review the facts of the case.
Prince’s lawyer pleaded for allocutus but the court, based on the nature of the case and the commercial quantity of the drug, stressed the seriousness of drug-related offences.
The court convicted and sentenced him to life in prison.
