Brave Dickson
One Joshua Friday has been sentenced to five years imprisonment without an option of fine by Justice L M Abubakar of a Federal High Court sitting in Port Harcourt.
The convict who was said to have been caught with 400 gram of cannabis pleaded guilty to the crime before the court.
Verifiable reports have it that the convict had earlier been arrested and arraigned on same offence this year and was discharged and acquitted.
According to Friday, “I was arrested with cannabis concealed in a parcel while in a taxi cab along Azikiwe Road in the old GRA axis of Port Harcourt township by some police personnel.
“They took me to Old GRA police station and later handed me over to the officials of National Drug Law Enforcement Agency. I was arraigned without a lawyer to defend me”.
Speaking with our correspondent, the Prosecuting Counsel, National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, Rivers State Command, Barr. Bridget Viashima said the trial judge described the convict as an unrepentant illicit drug dealer.
Studies have shown that one of the actual threats to the nation is the alarming rate of illicit drug peddling.
The menace of illicit drugs poses a grave threat to national development.
Most of the Nigerian borders are porous, therefore, giving room for easy influx and exit of illicit drugs.
However, the seemingly failing economy, insecurity, high rate of graduate unemployment, poverty, failure of government to provide basic necessities of life, high level of corruption and get-rich-quickly syndrome among the youths in Nigeria, also contributed to the increase in illicit drug peddling in Rivers State and Nigeria at large
To curtail the ugly trend, experts have stressed the need for sound awareness campaign, strong law and good governance.
