A businessman identified as Ajah Johnson Uchenna and his wife Rosemary Uchenna were on Monday, August 4th, sentenced to a total of 22 and a half years imprisonment by Justice Deinde Dipeolu of the Federal High Court 8 in Lagos for dealing in illicit drugs.
The couple was first arrested on Friday 13th June by operatives of the Department of State Security (DSS) in Ojo area of the state and transferred to NDLEA along with 277.5kg skunk, a strain of cannabis. While they were still being investigated in custody, credible intelligence revealed that the family business was going on in their house. This led to a raid of their home and a packing store where 231kg of same substance was recovered by NDLEA operatives on Tuesday 1st July.
They were subsequently arraigned in charge number FHC/L/632C/2025 at the Federal High Court Lagos on a four-count charge bordering on conspiracy, dealing and storage of 414.2 kilograms of cannabis sativa.
Confirming their arraignment in court, the spokesperson of the agency, Femi Babafemi, said the presiding judge, Justice Dipeolu, while delivering judgment on Monday, August 4, convicted Mrs. Rosemary Uchenna on counts 1, 2, and 3 and sentenced her to 17 years in prison without an option of fine, while her husband Johnson Ajah Uchenna was convicted and sentenced to five years imprisonment without option of fine on count 1 and six months in jail on count 4 with an option of N1 million fine.
The judge also ruled that in addition to the jail terms, the sum of Three Million, Four Hundred and Seven Thousand Naira (N3, 407,000.00) only recovered from the couple as proceeds of crime be forfeited to the Federal Government.
