Four drug kingpins – Ogbuji Christian Ifeanyi, Iloduba Augustine Chinonye, Shuaibu Nuhu Isa (Don) and Zidon Zurga – have been convicted and sentenced to a combined 95 years in prison by the Federal High Courts in Lagos and Yola, Adamawa State for trafficking cocaine and skunk worth over N4.6 billion.
The spokesperson of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), Femi Babafemi, announced this in a statement on Friday in Abuja.
Ogbuji was intercepted at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA), Lagos on September 18, 2024 during an inward clearance of Ethiopian Airlines passengers from Addis Ababa. He was found with 817 wraps of cocaine weighing 19.40kg valued at N4.7 billion. This was barely 16 months after he had been arrested and convicted for ingesting 93 pellets of cocaine.
He had previously been sentenced to two years imprisonment but paid a N3 million fine and was released. However, after his second arrest, he was arraigned before Justice Yellim Bogoro of the Federal High Court, Lagos and sentenced on February 28, 2025 to five years imprisonment with an option of a N7 million fine on one count and 10 years without an option of a fine on another.
If he fails to pay the fine, he will serve a total of 15 years consecutively. The court also ordered the forfeiture of monetary exhibits and other items found on him at the time of his arrest.
Similarly, 51-year-old Iloduba was arrested at the Akanu Ibiam International Airport, Enugu on December 31, 2021 for ingesting 58 wraps of cocaine. He expelled 48 wraps in transit in Addis Ababa and the remaining 10 in NDLEA custody. He was arraigned before Justice Folashade Giwa Ogunbanjo of the Federal High Court, Enugu and was sentenced to 10 years imprisonment on March 5, 2025, to run concurrently from the date of conviction.
In another case, 55-year-old Shuaibu Nuhu Isa (Don) and 50-year-old Zidon Zurga were arrested on November 25, 2024 along the Numan-Yola road with 500.8kg of skunk concealed in a Toyota Hilux and a Prado SUV with a fake Presidency number plate.
They were arraigned before Justice Bala Usman of the Federal High Court, Yola and sentenced on February 7, 2025, to 35 years imprisonment each on two counts, totaling 70 years combined or an option of a N25 million fine each. The court also ordered the interim forfeiture of the vehicles used in trafficking the illicit drugs.
Reacting to the convictions, the NDLEA chairman/chief executive officer, Brig- Gen Mohamed Buba Marwa (retd), commended the courts and the teams of officers involved in the investigations and prosecutions. He emphasised that the convictions and asset forfeitures would reinforce the agency’s ongoing efforts to dismantle drug networks across the country.
