A former professional footballer, Okafor Emmanuel Junior, who was arrested for drug trafficking in 1.4 kilograms of cocaine, has been convicted and sentenced to five years imprisonment, by a Lagos Federal High Court.
Junior was handed the jail-term by Justice Nicholas Oweibo, on Thursday, after he pleaded guilty to the charge of trafficking in the banned substance.
The drug trafficking charge was brought made him by the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA).
The former footballer, according to the prosecutor, Mr. Augustine Nwagu, was arrested with the banned substance on arrival from Brazil, on September 26, at the arrival hall of the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Ikeja, Lagos.
Nwagu told the court that the offence committed by the convict, contravened section 11(a) of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency Act Cap N30 Laws of the Federation of Nigeria, 2004, and punishable under the same Act.
Following his guilty plea, the prosecutor asked the court to sentence him in accordance with the section of the law he was charged with.
But his lawyer, Dennis Warri, in his allucutor, pleaded with the court to tamper justice with mercy in sentencing the convict.
Warri urged the court to consider the timely guilty plea of his client, adding that, he is remorseful since he was arrested and has vowed not to repeat the crime.
He particularly urged the court to consider the option of fine in lieu of custodian sentence.
Justice Oweibo in his judgment, sentenced the convict to five years imprisonment, starting from the date of his arrest.
The judge however gave the convict an option of N1 million fine in lieu of the jail terms.
