Drug traffickers caught... now on the run

26 drug mules arraigned before the Federal High Court, Lagos have jumped bail. But, the Nigerian Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) is determined they must face the wrath of the law, reports Joe Agbro Jr. On a cold wintry morning on January 26, 2007, Tochi Iwuchukwu, a 21 year old Nigerian footballer was led to gallows at Changi Prison, Singapore. He had been arrested in November 2004 for being in possession of 727 grams of heroin at the Changi Airport in Singapore. In Singapore, possession of more than 15 grammes of heroin attracts a death sentence.  Pleas from civil bodies worldwide and even a belated plea from the then Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo was not heeded by the Singaporean government. Tochi, in accordance to Singaporean law, was hung. Had Tochi been caught in Nigeria for the same offence, he would have been alive today and possibly a free man based on the country’s law and the discretion of the judge before whom he was arraigned.Just the day before Tochi was executed, popular Yoruba movie actress, Taiwo Akinwande Hassanat, a.k.a Yetunde Wunmi was sentenced by Justice Ahmed Mohammed of the Federal High Court, Lagos to three years imprisonment with an option of one million naira fine. The actress had pleaded guilty to trafficking cocaine. She was arrested by officials of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) in September, 2006 at the Murtala Mohammed International Airport, Ikeja, Lagos, on suspicion of drug trafficking as she was about to board a Virgin Atlantic plane to London. She excreted 92 wraps of cocaine weighing 1.2 kilogrammes. She had initially pleaded ‘not guilty’ when she was first arraigned. While Hassanat got off with what many Nigerians feel was a smack on the wrist, 26 persons accused of drug trafficking on trial at the Federal High Court, Lagos might never be punished for various drug trafficking offences.According to the Chairman of (NDLEA), Ahmadu Giade, the accused persons have vanished into thin air by jumping the bail granted them by the court. Speaking on a recent Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria (FRCN) programme to mark the International Drug Day Against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking on June 26, Giade threatened to sue those that stood as sureties for the accused drug traffickers that have jumped bail over 796.39kg of narcotics worth 387 million naira. Among the 26 accused, 23 are being charged in connection with 33.126kg of cocaine. One was caught with 1.063kg of heroin while another was apprehended with 758kg of cannabis.“They have been declared wanted and those that stood as sureties for them will either produce them or be made to face the legal consequences,” Giade said. He added that the inclusion of the Agency in the verification process of sureties will help to check the ugly incident of accused jumping bail.Some of the accused persons include Aloze Chijindu Bright, Eruka Jonah Ogbah, Chukwudi Amaefuna, and Nleanya Emmanuel. Aloze, a native of Amatu, Obimangwa Local Government Area, Abia State was nabbed in March 2008 by NDLEA officials at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Ikeja, Lagos during a screening of passengers to board a KLM flight to Madrid. Aloze, a 25-year old factory worker in Sueca, Valencia, Spain had ingested 66 wraps of cocaine. Ogbah, 50, a single father residing in Togo was also nabbed for ingesting 80 wraps of cocaine during the screening of passengers of KLM passengers to Amsterdam at the MMIA, Ikeja. Ogbah said he received the drugs at a hotel in Festac, Lagos, and would have gotten 3, 000 Euros had he successfully delivered the drugs. Amaefuna, 39, a motor spare parts dealer, while being screened on a KLM flight to Amsterdam, Holland was arrested in August 2008 for ingesting 70 pieces of wrapped cocaine weighing 1.42kg. His final destination was to be Düsseldorf, Germany. He was to be paid 1,500 Euros. Emmanuel was apprehended aboard a South African Airways flight from Brazil with 381 grammes of cocaine. The quartet were duly arrested by the NDLEA and charged to court to answer for their crimes. But, drug trafficking, being a bail-able offence in Nigeria, the judges at the federal high court granted them bail once they fulfilled the requirements.According to the Nigerian Drug Law Enforcement Agency Act, any person who without lawful authority imports, manufactures, produces, processes, plants or grows the drugs popularly known as cocaine, LSD, heroin or any other similar drugs shall be guilty of an offence and liable on conviction to being sentenced to imprisonment for life. The Act also stipulates similar punishment for anyone who exports, transports, sells, buys, exposes or offers for sale the prohibited drugs. For those caught in possession or use of the drugs, the Act stipulates them being, ‘guilty of an offence and liable on conviction to imprisonment for a term not less than fifteen years but not exceeding 25 years.’While the law appears to be stiff enough, some pundits have laid the blame and easy letting off of accused drug traffickers on the judges whose prerogative it is to interpret the laws. The Public Relations Officer of the NDLEA, Mitchel Ofoyeju, sees the challenge of ‘bail-jumping’ in the interpretation of laws by the courts. “What I will probably see as a challenge is the fact that the legal interpretation of life imprisonment has no minimum leaving the judges to exercise discretionary powers. This has been a source of concern to the Agency because we have sentences as low as 6 months,” he said.According to Ofoyeju, the NDLEA would prefer that the accused are not granted bail. “This is because from experience, when they (accused) are on bail, they no longer feel the pain.”According to the Nigerian legal system, the right of granting bail to accused falls within the domain of judges. This prerogative, however, seems to be frustrating efforts of the NDLEA to punish drug offenders. While the judges regard having a means of livelihood, owning of property within the jurisdiction of the court, and having a court official verify these claims as requisite for granting bail, some accused persons seem to have perfected means of defying the bail process. According to some lawyers, some court officials and prosecution lawyers fail to verify bail requirements; hence, some sureties go scot-free when accused persons jump bail. There is also the case of lack of proper filing of court records which have created a scenario where serial offenders have a field day.Barrister Allens Agbaka, a lawyer is of the opinion that incidences of offenders jumping bail lies with the authorities verifying the address of the sureties. He further said, “if a person is authorized by law to verify the address of an accused person and he refuses, the judge can charge that person for contempt. It is a contemptuous act and the person can Bface the wrath of the law for negligence of duty.  Although some may argue that we do not have a law in that regard, I dare say, that is a lie.” Culled from : The Nation Newspaper. ⁠