The Federal High Court in Lagos, on Wednesday, convicted and sentenced a husband, Mr Ikechukwu Okafor, and his wife, Ifeyinwa Okafor, to two years imprisonment for unlawfully dealing in 19.12 kilograms of Methamphetamine, a prohibited drug.
Justice Nicholas Oweibo handed down the jail term to the couple who resides at Ago Palace Way, Okota, Lagos State, after they pleaded guilty to the offence.
The Couple were arraigned on five counts of conspiracy, unlawful dealing, and unlawful possession of the banned drug, preferred against them by the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency.
According to the prosecutor, Mr. A. G. Yaunyam, the couple committed the crimes on October 5, 2023, at their Ago-Palace Way residence, Okota, Lagos.
He told the court that the offences contravened sections 14, 19, and 11(c) of the NDLEA Act Laws of the Federation of Nigeria, 2004
Following the couple’s guilty plea, the prosecutor urged the court to sentence them in accordance with the sections of the NDLEA Act they were charged with.
However, their lawyer, Benson Ndakara, pleaded with the court to be lenient with his clients and to temper justice with mercy in sentencing them.
Ndakara while citing a plethora of authorities, told the court that his clients were first-time convicts, who did not have previous conviction records.
He therefore urged the court to give his clients a non-custodian sentence or a fine option.
Consequently, Justice Oweibo, in his judgment, sentenced the couple to 24 months imprisonment.
The judge, however, ordered each of the convicts to pay the sum of N300m, as a fine option on each of the counts, totalling N1.5m each.