4 drug kingpins bag 95 years in prison, forfeit vehicles, other assets

Four major drug traffickers — Ogbuji Ifeanyi, Iloduba A Chinonye, Shuaibu Isa (a.k.a Don), and Zidon Zurga — have been sentenced to a combined 95 years in prison by the Federal High Courts in Lagos and Yola, Adamawa State, for trafficking cocaine and skunk valued at over N4.6 billion.

The convictions followed separate arrests by the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), as detailed in a statement released on Friday by the agency’s Director of Media & Advocacy, Femi Babafemi.

Ogbuji Ifeanyi was apprehended by NDLEA officers at Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA), Lagos, on September 18, 2024, during the inward clearance of an Ethiopian Airlines flight from Addis Ababa. He was caught with 817 wraps of cocaine weighing 19.40 kilograms, with an estimated street value of N4.65 billion.

“That was barely 16 months after the 48-year-old businessman was arrested and convicted for ingesting 93 pellets of cocaine,” the statement read.

Ogbuji’s previous arrest occurred on May 10, 2023, at Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja, after he arrived from Uganda via Addis Ababa. He was convicted and sentenced to two years in prison or a fine of N3 million, which he paid.

According to the statement, despite his earlier conviction, Ogbuji returned to drug trafficking and was rearrested at Lagos airport in September 2024. He was charged before Justice Yellim Bogoro of the Federal High Court, Lagos, and sentenced on February 28, 2025, to five years in prison on one count, with an option of a N7 million fine, and 10 years on another count, without a fine option. If the fine is not paid, he will serve the sentences consecutively, totaling 15 years. The court also ordered the forfeiture of monetary exhibits and items seized at the time of his arrest.

On his part, Iloduba A. Chinonye, 51, was arrested on December 31, 2021, at Akanu Ibiam International Airport, Enugu, after ingesting 58 wraps of cocaine. He expelled 48 wraps while in transit through Addis Ababa, with the remaining 10 recovered in NDLEA custody. He was arraigned before Justice Folashade Giwa Ogunbanjo of the Federal High Court, Enugu, and after three years of prosecution, was sentenced on March 5, 2025, to five years in prison on each of two counts, to run concurrently — totaling 10 years behind bars.

The statement also revealed that Shuaibu Nuhu Isa (a.k.a Don), 55, and Zidon Zurga, 50, were caught with 500.8 kilograms of skunk hidden in a Toyota Hilux and a Prado SUV with a fake presidential number plate. The arrest took place on November 25, 2024, along the Numan-Yola Road.

Both men were charged before Justice Bala Usman at the Federal High Court, Yola, and were convicted on February 7, 2025. They each received 35-year sentences on two counts, totaling 70 years combined, or a fine of N25 million each. The court also ordered the interim forfeiture of the vehicles used to transport the drugs.