A mild drama ensued at the Federal High Court, Abuja, on Monday when two co-defendants of the suspended Deputy Commissioner of Police, Abba Kyari pleaded guilty to the hard drug trafficking charges against them.
However, in spite of their guilty plea, they were ordered to be remanded in the custody of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) till Monday, March 14, when the application for their bail would be heard.
The Federal Government, through the NDLEA, arraigned Abba Kyari, six police officers and two civilians on an eight-count charge bordering on conspiracy, obstruction and dealing in cocaine and other related offences.
While Kyari and three other defendants, who are police officers, pleaded not guilty to the entire eight-count charges, the two civilians, Chibuinna Patrick Umeibe and Emeka Alphonsus Ezenwanne, pleaded guilty to 5th, 6th and 7th charges where their names featured.
Upon the plea of the defendants, counsel to Abba Kyari, Kanu Agabi (SAN), along with counsel to other defendants in the charge, prayed the court to admit their clients to bail.
Meanwhile, the trial Judge, Justice Emeka Nwite adjourned till Monday to hear the bail application of the defendants and ordered that they should be remanded in the custody of the NDLEA.
The Judge also fixed March 28 for review of facts in the charges against the two defendants who admitted guilt to the offence.
Justice Nwite may also sentence them on the day in line with provision of the law they violated.
NDLEA’s lawyer, Joseph Sunday, had urged the trial judge, to order the review of facts of the case concerning the two defendants, to set the stage for their sentencing.
Kanu Agabi, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, objected to the request.
Agabi, argued against this. According to him, “My Lord, convicting and sentencing these two defendants who have pleaded guilty to the charge will be prejudicial to our clients’ case,” adding that Umeibe and Ezenwanne might have pleaded guilty out of ignorance.
Swiftly, Mr Okenyi, who stood in for the two replied, “My clients couldn’t have pleaded guilty to charges in which they are legally represented in court,” Mr Ukenyi said.
NDLEA’s lawyer, Joseph Sunday, added that conviction and sentencing of the two defendants could not be delayed because, according to him, “It will be unfair to defer the conviction and sentencing of the two defendants till the conclusion of the trial of the defendants,”