Metro
SAN picks holes in the early Release of Drug Couriers
A Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Dr. Onyechi Ikpeazu, has described the plea bargain the Nigeria Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) entered into with two alleged international drug couriers last year as faulty
According to the lawyer, the plea bargain led to their release from the custody of the Nigeria Correctional Service Centre.
The senior advocate disclosed that the duo of Chibunna Patrick Umeibe and Emeka Alphonsus Ezenwanne were arrested at the car park of Enugu Airport by the operatives of the Inspector General of Police’s Response Team after they had been cleared by the NDLEA and other security officials at the International Airport in Enugu.
The IRT operatives were said to have acted on a credible information by a whistleblower.
Ikpeazu said it smacks of complicity on the part of the NDLEA to allow the drug traffickers and their sponsors walk the street while the policemen who through diligent work arrested them are in prison.
He wondered why the NDLEA has continued to object to bail and has done everything possible to ensure the policemen do not get bail.
The senior lawyer who spoke after the hearing of the case in court, explained that a good defence helps a judge to determine where guilt or innocence will lie, adding that men of the Police IRT are “persons that have added considerable value to society in many ways.”
According to him, the illicit drugs in dispute were intercepted by the IRT team at the parking lot of an airport, meaning that they must have been cleared to come into Nigeria by relevant authorities, including the NDLEA and not the police.
“When you look at the case itself and ask what precipitated the charge? It was that the Police IRT Unit was able to do that which the NDLEA was unable to do.
“They (IRT) were able to detect a drug cartel that had isolated the Enugu Airport (from Brazil to Ethiopia to Enugu Airport) for their drug transaction and they disseminate drugs all over the Federal Republic of Nigeria”, he said.
He said that it was ironic for the civilians that trafficked the drugs to be freed from prison because they entered into a plea bargain with the NDLEA which is an agency of the federal government.
“The people that imported drugs, the drugs were not concealed, they were tendered in court; and the people that imported such demonic and dangerous substances to be circulated to our children will walk (out of prison), while the people that intercepted them for prosecution are now being prosecuted.
“Authorities at the NDLEA and the Federal Correctional Services have confirmed that the duo of Chibunna Patrick Umeibe and Emeka Alphonsus Ezenwanne, who pleaded guilty in court to charges of peddling hard and illicit drugs, entered into plea bargain with the NDLEA to serve just 16 months in prison as against 28 years that their offence ordinarily ought to have earned them”.
It could be recalled that the Policemen serving in the IRT arrested Chibunna Patrick Umeibe and Emeka Alphonsus Ezenwanne, at the car park of the Akanu Ibiam International Airport in Enugu on January 19, 2022, following a tip-off by a whistle blower.
The two drug peddlers had successfully evaded NDLEA and other security agents at the airport and were are the verge of leaving the airport vicinity when the police officers on the IRT unexpectedly apprehended them and the drugs they had just ferried into the country.
Findings have also shown that the plea bargain with the drug couriers and their early release from prison may be breeding tension between the Police and the NDLEA.
A senior Police source, who spoke on condition of anonymity insisted in a chat that their colleagues may have been shortchanged in the drug burst and demanded that the Inspector General of Police, IGP Usman Alkali Baba, prevail on President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to order a high-level probe of the handling of the matter by the leadership of the NDLEA.
“Something is not right about this case at all. The police had swooped on the two after the whistle-blower revealed all their movements and activities right from Brazil to Ethiopia and Nigeria via the Enugu Airport. They arrived at Enugu Airport with over 21kg of drugs full to the brim in their 2 carry-on bags. Shockingly, despite the presence of all security agents including the men of the NDLEA at the airport, they were cleared,” the Police Officer added.
A number of Senior Police Officers are said to be particularly worried about the condition of ACP Sunday Ubua and his family.
According to them, Ubua, who was the Second-in-Command at the IRT, according them, knew next to nothing about the incident but currently being prosecuted and persecuted because he refused to ‘cooperate’ with the NDLEA against DCP Abba Kyari.
“He is languishing in prison while his wife is the hospital down with cancer and nobody is taking care of the children. This is so sad,” the Senior Police Officer added.
**As thugs loyal to Abure unleash mayhem on LP protesters from Edo
There seem to be no end in sight for the crises in the Labour Party as the Edo State chapter has officially ratified the suspension of the National chairman of the party, Julius Abure.
This was contained in a correspondent to the National Headquarters of the party titled: Ratification. Of the suspension from the membership of Ward 3, Arue, Uromi, Esan North qEast LGA, Edo State.
The letter which was signed by the chairman and secretary of the state chapter of the party, Com. Ogbaloi K.S.E State Chairman and Com. Akhere Frederick respectively and was copied INEC.
The Letter reads,
“Here forwarded to you and for your notification, the ratification of the suspension of Comr Barr. Julius Abure from the membership of Ward 3, Arue, Uromi, Esan North East LGA. Edo State.
“The State Executive Council, Labour Party, Edo State, comprising of the State Working Committee, the 18 Local Government Chairmen and the 18 Local Government Secretaries met on the 24” of May, 2024, at about 11:00pm, to consider the matters presented on the suspension of Comr. Barr. Julius Abure by his Ward in Arue, Uromi, Esan North East LGA, and the upholding of the suspension by the LGA Excos.
“After clinical analysis of the accusation, the Council found them weighty and further ratified and upheld the suspension.
Meanwhile, Thugs suspected to be loyal to the National Chairman of the Labour Party (LP), on Monday unleashed mayhem on Protesters believed to be LP supporters from the Edo State chapter who were at the party National secretariat to demand Abure’s ouster.
The anti- Abure protesters stormed the party headquarters in a number of vehicles holding placards and chanting solidarity songs.
No sooner than some of the protesters stepped out of one of the vehicles than the suspected thugs swooped on the vehicles with sticks and other objects forcing the drivers to zoom off.
A detachment of armed policemen and operatives of the Department of State Security (DSS) intervened when the thugs started throwing stones into the nearby Secretariat of the Nigeria Union of Journalists, in pursuit of reporters who were convering the fracas.
The intervention of the security officials prevented the situation from further degenerating. A police vehicle is currently stationed in between the warring factions.
By our correspondent
The Kuteb Yatso of Nigeria (KYN) the umbrella body of Kuteb world wide has accused Gen. Theophilus Danjuma ((rtd) of deliberately distorting and inventing new history of Takum Chieftaincy to benefit his tribal people (Chamba)
Chief Emmanuel Ukwen, President General Kuteb Yantso of Nigeria stated this while addressing newsmen in Jalingo on Friday.
The accusation is coming after the recent appointment of HRH Bar. Sopiya Gboshi as chief of Takum who was presented with staff of office by Gov Agbu Kefas to succeed late Ukwe Ali Ibrahim kufang ll who died 28 years ago.
The Kuteb also accused Gen. Danjuma and his associates of making plans to demolish the Takum Central Mosque and the ancestral palace of Ukwe Takum which had been located behind the Mosque.
Chief Ukwen recalled the recent speech presented by Dajuma during the coronation of the newly appointed chief of Takum against the Kuteb and late Ukwe Takum Ali Ibrahim was unjust and unacceptable.
“It is a pity that TY Danjuma referred to late Ukwe Ali Ibrahim as a very bad and terrible chief on flimsy reasons because he was a Kuteb man and a Muslim.
Record have it that late Ukwe Ali ibrahim was an honest and peace loving leader who ruled over the people of Takum from 1963 to 1996 and was adjuged by all as a leader with fear of God.
“We have uncovered a sinister move by Danjuma and his cohorts to force the State Governor to demolish the Takum Central Mosque and the Ukwe Takum Palace which is located behind the Mosque under the guise of Urban development.
“We want the whole world to know that the graves of our late Ukwes who reigned and died are in the palace.
“Any attempt by Danjuma and his cohorts to desecrate the tombs of our fathers will amount to cultural genocide,” he said.
The Kuteb leader also accused Danjuma of preaching peace in the public while he has secretly instigated and funded many crisis in his hometown, Takum.
The very recent was the sponsoring of Fulanis to wipe out over 200 Kuteb villages preparatory to the forceful installation of a Chamba Chief inorder to weaken and silence the Kuteb people in Takum.
“The Kuteb through Ukwe Takum ruled Takum from 1510 to 1996 uninterrupted by any other tribe, how comes Danjuma is forging history that the Kutebs are people from the hills? Ukwen questioned.
Meanwhile, Gen. Danjuma during the convocation of the Chief of Takum described the Kuteb people as troublesome and urged the State Governor, Kefas Agbu to be careful with the Kuteb people.
Forefront recalls that Kuteb Yatso of Nigeria shortly after the appointment of the new chief of Takum, vowed not to recognise the newly crowned chief Sopiya Gboshi from Chamba tribe.
The Kutebs vehemently vowed not to recognise the new Chief and would exhaust every legal means to recover their ancestral stool.
By Friday Idachaba, Lokoja.
Kogi State Sector Command of the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) has confirmed the death of five persons in a fatal auto crash on Kabba-Obajana road in Kabba-Bunu Local Government Area of the state.
The State Sector Commander, Samuel Oyedeji, who confirmed the accident and death of the five to newsmen on Thursday in Lokoja said three others survived the accident with serious injuries.
Oyedeji attributed the accident which involved a Ford Galaxy space wagon and a Mazda car, to speeding and wrongful overtaking.
“The head-on collision between the two cars moving in the opposite directions happened due to speeding and wrongful overtaking by one of the drivers.
“We have been preaching against drivers flouting road safety rules and regulations, yet these motorists hardly heed our warnings.
“Five persons lost their lives in the fatal accident that left three others seriously injured,” he said.
The Sector Commander said that officers from the command immediately carried out a rescue operation at the scene of the accident and rushed the three injured persons to General Hospital, Kabba for medical attention.
Oyedeji said the remains of the five dead persons were also deposited at the mortuary of the Kabba General Hospital.
The Kogi Sector Commander admonished motorists to always endeavour to always obey road safety rules and regulations to avoid fatal auto crashes on the highways. (Ends)
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