Four drug kingpins – Ogbuji Christian Ifeanyi, Iloduba Augustine Chinonye, Shuaibu Nuhu Isa, and Zidon Zurga – have been convicted and sentenced to 95 years in prison by the Federal High Court sitting in Lagos and Adamawa States for trafficking cocaine and skunk worth over N4.6 billion.
Ogbuji was intercepted by operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport in the Ikeja area of Lagos State in September 2024 during an inward clearance of Ethiopian Airlines flight passengers from Addis Ababa to Lagos for importing 817 wraps of cocaine weighing 19.40 kilograms with an estimated street value of N4,656,000,000.
That was barely 16 months after the 48-year-old businessman was arrested and convicted for ingesting 93 pellets of cocaine.
He was first arrested at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport in Abuja in May 2023 upon arrival from Uganda via Addis Ababa, onboard Ethiopian Airlines flight ET 951, for ingesting 93 pellets of cocaine with a gross weight of 1.986kg.
He was subsequently arraigned before the Federal High Court in Abuja and convicted in July 2023. Ogbuji was sentenced to two years imprisonment with an option of paying a fine of N3 million, which he paid and was set free.
Not done with crime, Ogbuji was again arrested at the Lagos airport with a large consignment of cocaine in September 2024, after which he was arraigned before the Federal High Court in Lagos on January 16, 2025.
He was eventually sentenced on February 28 to five years imprisonment on count one with an option of N7 million fine and 10 years imprisonment on count two without an option of fine.
In the event that he failed to pay the N7 million fine, the judge ruled that the convict would serve a total of 15 years in jail consecutively.
NDLEA: How we arrested wanted drug baron over N1.4bn drugs after 17 years
The court ordered the forfeiture of monetary exhibits and other items found on him at the time of his arrest.
In his own case, 51-year-old Iludoba was arrested by NDLEA operatives on New Year’s Eve, December 31, 2021, at the Akanu Ibiam International Airport in Enugu for cocaine trafficking.
He was found to have ingested 58 wraps of the illicit drug, 48 of which he excreted in transit in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, while he expelled the balance of 10 in NDLEA custody after his arrest on January 1, 2022.
He was thereafter arraigned on two counts before the Federal High Court sitting in Enugu.
After three years of prosecution, Iludoba was convicted and sentenced to five years imprisonment on each count, bringing his total years in jail to 10 years, which will run concurrently from the date of his conviction, Wednesday, March 5, 2025.
In the case of Shuaibu Nuhu Isa and Zidon Zurga, they were arrested by NDLEA operatives on November 25, 2024, along the Numan-Yola Road with 500.800kg skunk, a strain of cannabis, concealed in a pilot Toyota Hilux vehicle marked Lagos NT 829 AAA and a Prado SUV with a fake presidency number plate 01B-266 FG.
They were later arraigned before Justice Bala Usman and convicted on February 7, 2025, to 35 years imprisonment each on two counts, bringing the combined years in jail for both of them to 70 years with a fine option of N25 million each.
Two drug kingpins excrete 125 wraps of heroin at Lagos, PH airports
The court also ordered the interim forfeiture of the two jeeps used in trafficking the illicit drug consignment.
Reacting to the conviction of the drug kingpins, the Chairman/Chief Executive Officer of NDLEA, Brig Gen Mohamed Buba Marwa (Rtd), commended the trial courts and the anti-narcotic officers who investigated and prosecuted the cases for their diligence and professionalism.
“The conviction and the forfeiture of the convicts’ instruments of crime will further strengthen the deterrent effect of our ongoing effort to totally dismantle every drug network in the country,” Marwa was quoted as saying in a statement issued by the NDLEA Director of Media and Advocacy, Femi Babafemi, on Friday, March 7.
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