Izugha during his arrest
Justice Dehinde Dipeolu of the Federal High Court , Lagos on Thursday convicted and sentence one Okechukwu Izugha to six months imprisonment for trafficking in 500 grams of Cocaine.
The judge handed down the sentence following Izugha’s plea of guilt to one count charge of unlawful dealing in the banned substance.
Izugha was last week arraigned before Justice Dipeolu by the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA on one count charge of dealing in the banned substance.
According to the charge, Izugha was said to have on the 21st of January 2025 at number 6 Agbebl Street, ljeshatedo Market Area of Lagos State procured one Maureen Izugha (his wife) to possess 500 Grams of Cocaine.
Following Izugha’s arraignment, he pleaded not guilty to the charge and his counsel, Barrister Dennis Warri from Ndakara’ chambers argued his bail application which was vehemently opposed by the prosecutor Mr Abu Ibrahim Ibrahim.
Justice Dipeolu, however, refused to grant his bail application and ordered accelerated trial.
However, when the matter came up for trial on Thursday, Izugha changed his plea from not guilty to guilty, consequent upon which the facts of the case was reviewed by the prosecutor Barrister Abu Ibrahim who urged the court to convict Izugha as charged based on his plea of guilt and evidence adduced before the court.
Justice Dipeolu convicted the defendants as charged.
Following his conviction, Izugha’s lawyer, Chief Benson Ndakara made allocutus on his behalf as he pleaded for mercy on behalf of the convict, adding that he is a first time offender who has shown remorse since his incarcerations and has vowed never to go into crime if given another opportunity.
Ndakara asked the court to temper justice with mercy by granting a non custodian sentence.
Justice Dipeolu after listening to parties sentenced the convict to six months imprisonment without option of fine.
It would be recalled that the convict’s wife Maureen Izugha had earlier earlier been convicted by another judge of the Federal High Court, Justice Lewis Ambrose Alagoa who sentenced her to five years imprisonment or an option of N2 million fine.
