Court Jails NURTW Member, 2 Others For Drug Trafficking
A driver and member of National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW) Tapa Kazeem Mustapha, 45, and two others, were today convicted and sentenced to a two years imprisonment for trafficking in hard drugs.
Others convicted and sentenced alongside the NURTW member are; Andrew Ukelere and Anthony Chiemerem.
The three convicts were earlier arraigned before the court by the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), on April 27, on charges bordering on conspiracy, trafficking in 13.9 kilograms of tramadol and 590 Litres of Pentazocine a psychotropic drug similar to Cocaine.
During their arraignment, the prosecutor, Mariam I. Erondu, who was represented by Julian Negedu, told the court that they were arrested with the prohibited drugs, on March 19, 2024, on the Long Bridge axis of Lagos-Ibadan Expressway, Lagos, Lagos State.
The prosecutor told the court that the offences committed by the three convicts, contravened sections 11(b) of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency Act Cap N 30, Laws of the Federation of Nigeria 2004, and punishable under the same Act.
The trio have pleaded guilty to the charges.
Following their guilty plea, Justice Kehinde Ogundare, while adjourned the matter to today for review of facts and sentence, ordered that all defendants be remanded at the Ikoyi-Lagos Center of the Nigerian Correctional Services (NCoS).
At the resumed hearing of the matter for review of facts, the prosecutor called Mr. Benjamin Naetah, a Senior Exhibits Keeper with the agency, who tendered the drugs and others exhibits, which were admitted by the court.
Upon conclusion of the review of facts, the prosecutor urged the court to convict and sentence the trio in accordance with the sections of the NDLEA Act that they were charged with.
But the convicts’ lawyer, Chief Lilian Omotunde and Ore-ofe Ogunleye, in their allucutor, urged the court award a non-custodian sentence on their clients, being a first time convicts and for not wasting the time of the court.
Chief Omotunde, who is the counsel to the first and second convicts said: “the first convict is a first time offender, he is a member of National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW). He was contracted by the roadside to deliver a good after Lagos State, but he was caught up by the law……
“The second convict is a 35 years old, medicine store attendant, who was sent on an errand by his master.
“I urged the court to award a non-custodian sentence.”
Also, counsel to the third convict, Ogunleye, equally urged the court to award a non-custodian sentence on her client.
She particularly cited section 426(2) paragraphs a, b, d and e of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act (ACJA) 2015.
Responding to the counsel’s submissions, the prosecutor, Erondu, while citing Section 311 of ACJA, urged the court to consider the commercial quantity of the prohibited drug seized from the convicts and damages it would done to the country..
In his judgment, Justice Ogundare sentenced the first and second convicts to two years imprisonment, while the third convict was sentenced to a year imprisonment.
The judge however ordered both the first and second convicts to pay the sum of N500, 000, 00 each, and the third convict to pay the sum of N100, 000, 00 in lieu of the jail-term
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