The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has filed a notice of appeal against the ruling of Justice Abrose Lewis-Alagoa of a Federal High Court in Lagos which cleared a socialite and nightclub owner, Mike Nwalie, popularly known as Pretty Mike, of drug-related offences charge slammed on him by the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA).
The judge had on the 15th of April, 2026 upheld the no-case submission filed by Nwalie and one, Joachim Hillary, consequently discharging the duo of allegation of illegal possession of hard drugs.
In his ruling, Justice Allagoa held that the evidence presented by the NDLEA failed to establish a ‘prima facie’ case requiring the duo to enter a defence.
The judge agreed with the defence, holding that the prosecution’s evidence did not meet the minimum standard required to sustain the charge.
The court found that the case, at its highest, amounted to mere suspicion and lacked the cogent and compelling evidence necessary to link the defendants to the alleged drug activities.
Dissatisfied with the ruling, the NDLEA through its lawyer, Buhari Abdullahi, lodged an appeal at the Lagos Division of the Court of Appeal alleging miscarriage of justice.
In the notion of appeal, the NDLEA is seeking for the following reliefs among others: “An order allowing the appeal and setting aside the ruling of Honourable Justice Ambrose Lewis – Allagoa of the Federal High Court delivered on 15th April, 2026.
“An order directing the respondents to enter their defence, and for such further or other orders as the Court of Appeal may deem fit to make in the circumstances”.
On the particulars of errors, the anti-narcotic agency argued that the ruling of the trial court discharging and acquitting the respondents was perverse, having regard to the weight of evidence adduced by the appellant.
“There is sufficient evidence placed before the trial court to prove the essential ingredients of the offence of unlawful possession under Section 20(2)(b) of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency Act, Cap N30, Laws of the Federation of Nigeria, 2004, against the 1st respondent.”
“There is sufficient evidence placed before the trial court to prove the essential ingredients of the offence of allowing the premises to be used for a drug party and drug dealing under Section 12 of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency Act, Cap N30, Laws of the Federation of Nigeria, 2004, against the 2nd respondent”, NDLEA said.
The appellant further stated that the trial court failed completely to evaluate the prosecution’s evidence before arriving at the decision discharging and acquitting the respondents.
Nwalie and Hillary were on Thursday, November 5, 2025, arraigned before Justice Alagoa by the NDLEA on a three-count charge bordering on conspiracy, illegal possession of hard drug and knowingly allowing the use of the club premises for illegal drug activities.
The charge dated October 30, 2025, stemmed from a raid by the anti-narcotic agency on the popular nightclub located at No. 7 Akin Adesola Street, Victoria Island, Lagos on October 26, 2025, during which a significant cache of illicit substances were allegedly recovered.
During the raid NDLEA operatives were said to have recovered 200g of Cannabis Sativa, a narcotic drug, and 177 cylinders of Nitrous Oxide, commonly known as laughing gas. The cylinders of the Nitrous Oxide was said to have weighed 364.662 kg.
