Ex-Footballer Bags 5 years Jail Term For Drug Trafficking

Okafor Emmanuel Junior, a former professional football player, was found guilty of cocaine trafficking and given a five-year jail sentence by Justice Nicholas Oweibo of the Federal High Court in Lagos.

The decision was made after Emmanuel admitted guilt to the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency’s accusation of trafficking in the illegal narcotic (NDLEA).

According to the prosecutor Augustine Nwagu, the former football player was detained on September 26,2022, at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport in Ikeja, Lagos, after arriving from Brazil carrying 1.4 kilos of cocaine.

The offense committed by the prisoner, according to Nwagu, violated section 11(a) of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency Act Cap N30 Laws of the Federation of Nigeria, 2004, and was penalized by the same Act.

Following his admission of guilt, the prosecution requested that the court punish him in line with the legal provision for which he was accused.

However, in his allucutor, Dennis Warri, the defendant’s attorney, begged the court to err on the side of pity while passing judgment on the prisoner.

Warri pleaded with the court to take the convict’s prompt guilty plea into consideration, stating that the man has changed his mind about the crime since being detained and swore never to commit another one.

He particularly urged the court to consider the option of fine in lieu of custodian sentence.

Justice Oweibo, in his judgement, sentenced the convict to five years imprisonment, starting from the date of his arrest.

The judge, however, gave the convict option of N1million fine in lieu of the jail terms.