Two notorious drug kingpins: Uwaezuoke Ikenna Christian and Agbo Chidike Prince will now spend the rest of their lives in jail, bringing an end to their years of criminal enterprise of exporting cocaine across continents following their arrest and diligent prosecution by the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA.
The Federal High Court in Abuja sentenced Uwaezuoke Ikenna Christian and Agbo Chidike Prince to life imprisonment for cocaine trafficking including exporting cocaine across continents.
Christian, 43 and Prince, 42 were arrested and arraigned before the court by the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA).
Christian was arrested by the NDLEA on March 19, 2022, at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja during the inward clearance of an Ethiopian Airlines flight from Addis Ababa, Ethiopia after he was found to have ingested 100 big wraps of cocaine weighing 2.243 kilograms.
Christian was subsequently arraigned before the court in charge number FHC/ABJ/CR/438/2022 and was granted bail on certain conditions after he pleaded not guilty.
Thereafter, the NDLEA’s Director of Media & Advocacy, Femi Babafemi, said that Christian absconded, forcing the court to revoke his bail and issue an arrest warrant against him.
With the arrest warrant, Christian was rearrested by the NDLEA on August 1, 2023, at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos while attempting to export 1.822 kilograms of cocaine to India through ingestion using a different passport and under a different name, Ilonzeh Kingsley Onyebuchi.
Following his rearrest, he was re-arraigned before Justice Nicholas Qweibo of the Federal High Court sitting in Lagos in charge number FHC/L/554C/2023.
Christian pleaded guilty to the two counts preferred against him by the NDLEA and on October 18, 2023, he was convicted and sentenced to seven years in prison with the option of a fine in the sum of N1,500,000.
Christian paid the fine and was transferred to Abuja to face the importation case pending against him, and on March 20, this year, he was re-arraigned before Justice Joyce Obehi Abdulmalik of the Federal High Court sitting in Abuja in charge number FHC/ABJ/CR/438/2022 where he pleaded guilty again.
However, despite his plea, the court held that it noticed Christian’s lack of remorse, the seriousness of drug-related offences and the fact that he was a repeat offender, hence, he was convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment.
Similarly, Prince was arrested at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja, during the outward clearance of an Ethiopian Airlines flight to Hong Kong on October 27, 2023, for ingesting 49 wraps of cocaine weighing 998.73 grams.
Upon his arraignment before Justice Joyce Obehi Abdulmalik of the Federal High Court sitting in Abuja, he pleaded guilty to the charge, prompting the prosecution to present evidence and review the facts of the case.
Prince’s lawyer pleaded for allocutus but the court, based on the nature of the case and the commercial quantity of the drug, stressed the seriousness of drug-related offences.
The court convicted and sentenced him to life in prison.

onvicted and sentenced the defendant on 15th April, 2024 to life imprisonment.
Meanwhile, NDLEA officers at the gate C departure hall of the Lagos airport on Friday 26th April arrested a passenger, Yahaya Danjuma Oturah, while attempting to export 4,000 pills of tramadol 225mg to Malpensa, Italy on an Ethiopian Airline flight. The psychoactive substance was found concealed in women wears and granulated melon packed in the suspect’s backpack and another bag containing food items. In his statement, Oturah who is a frequent flyer confessed he was hired to courier the drug for 700 Euros on successful delivery of the consignment in Italy.
In Bayelsa, NDLEA operatives on Wednesday 24th April arrested 28-year-old Jennifer Iliya at Amarata area of Yenagoa for producing and distributing cakes laced with illicit drugs especially cannabis sativa. At the time of her arrest, substantial number of the drugged cakes weighing 1.5kg were recovered from her. A 20-year-old hair stylist, Josephine Odunu and a dispatch rider, Edesemi Ikporo, 30, had been arrested on Sunday 10th March by NDLEA operatives for in Yenagoa for a similar offence.
Two suspects: Joseph Dadik, 47, and Bensha Yari, 32, were arrested with 24,180 ampoules of pentazocine injection weighing 135.5 kilograms at Sabon Tasha, Kaduna, while Adamu Umar, 18, was nabbed with 20.700kg cannabis when his house in Shuware area of Mubi, Adamawa state was raided on Friday 26th April.
No less than 310.7kg cannabis was recovered on Thursday 25th April when NDLEA operatives raided parts of Mushin in Lagos state. While 300kg was seized at Olatunji Street, Mushin, 10.7kg of same substance was retrieved from two suspects: Tijani Wasiu and Suleiman Aisha
at Anifowose, Mushin.
While Stanley Chukwudi, 43, was arrested with 5,900 ampoules of pentazocine injection at
Sabon Gari area of Kano State on Thursday 25th April, a couple, Fredrick Odion, 53, and Gladys Odion, 52, were nabbed with 50kg cannabis at Iruekpen, Esan west LGA, Edo state by NDLEA officers on Wednesday 24th April.
With the same zeal, the various commands of the Agency across the country
continued with the War Against Drug Abuse, WADA, advocacy campaign in the past week. Some of them include: WADA sensitisation lecture for students and staff of Federal Government College, Nise, Anambra; Royal Institute of Health Technology, Ifo, Ogun state; Akpugo-Eze High School, Oji-River, Enugu; Modibbo Adama University, Yola, Adamawa; and Jubilee Secondary School, Ore, Ondo state, among others.
While commending the officers and men of the Directorate of Prosecution and Legal Services of the Agency for the diligent prosecution of Uwazuoke and Agbo cases, Chairman/Chief Executive Officer of NDLEA, Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (Retd) said the success rate of cases prosecuted by the agency has shown that there’s no escape route for those involved in the illicit trade of drug trafficking. He equally applauded those of MMIA, Lagos, Kaduna, Kano, Edo, Adamawa and Bayelsa Commands as well as their counterparts in all the commands across the country for intensifying their drug supply and drug demand reduction activities.

Femi Babafemi
Director, Media & Advocacy
NDLEA Headquarters Abuja
Sunday 28th April 2024