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NDLEA arrests Thailand returnee with N3.1bn heroin at Lagos airport
The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has arrested a Thailand returnee Simon Peter Oguejiofor for importing 13.30 kilograms of heroin worth more than N3.192billion at Murtala Muhammed International Airport, (MMIA) Ikeja, Lagos.
The NDLEA spokesman, Femi Babafemi said this in a statement on Sunday in Abuja.
Babafemi said that NDLEA operatives intercepted large consignments of Opioids with combined monetary value of more than N22.7 billion at three seaports in Lagos.
He said that Oguejiofor was arrested on Monday Oct. 7 while attempting to smuggle out of the airport the illicit drug concealed in six backpacks and then packed into two big suitcases.
He added that the 29-year-old graduate of Mechanical Engineering from the Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu University, Uli, Anambra state, had left Thailand on Oct. 3 on Qatar Airways flight and stopped over in Doha.
This, he said was where he spent two days before heading to Lagos while his luggage was routed to Accra, Ghana, his original destination.
“After arriving Lagos on the Oct. 5, he contacted the airline to reroute his luggage to Nigeria so that he can pick them up as rush bags in a bit to beat security checks.
“However, NDLEA officers intercepted him at the point of exit. A search of his two suitcases revealed three empty backpacks in each box with a large parcel of heroin neatly sewn to all the six backpacks.
“The six parcels were subsequently recovered with a gross weight of 13.30kg.
“In his statement, Oguejiofor claimed he was hired for a fee of 7,000 dollars upon successful delivery of the parcels. He said he was to deliver two parcels in Lagos and the other four parcels in Accra, Ghana.”
Meanwhile, a total of 32,607,900 pills of tramadol worth over N12.5 billion and N1.4million bottles of codeine-based syrup with a street value of N10.2 billion have been intercepted at the Lekki Deep Seaport, Apapa seaport in Lagos and Port Harcourt Port Complex, Onne, Rivers state.
Babafemi said that the combined monetary value of the seized opioids comes to N22.7 billion.
He said that the illicit consignments were seized from containers watch listed by NDLEA based on intelligence and processed for 100 per cent joint examination.
This, he said was with the help of men of the Nigeria Customs and other security agencies at the three seaports between Monday Oct. 7 and Friday October 11.
In the same vein, NDLEA operatives in Anambra on Saturday Oct. 12 arrested a suspect, Okelue Chidera, 29, with 50,000 tablets of tramadol 200mg at Upper Iweka, Onitsha.
Also, in Edo state, operatives raided a cannabis transit and loading point at Aviose, Owan West LGA where 70 bags of the psychoactive substance weighing 1,050kg were recovered.
Babafemi said that a suspect Monday Akele, 38, was arrested on Friday Oct. 11 in another raid at Owan Village, Ovia North East Local Government Area where 110kg of same substance was seized.
Akwa Ibom State Governor, Umo Eno, has distanced the state government from the ₦700 billion fraud allegation leveled against his immediate predecessor, Udom Emmanuel, by the Network against Corruption and Trafficking, and being probed by anti-graft agency EFCC.
“I don’t know where they get those figures from because it can’t be from Akwa Ibom State; it can’t be from us – we don’t have such figures,” Eno said at a town hall meeting in the Abak area of the state on Saturday.
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) governor condemned what he described as a vilification of the past governors of the oil-rich South-South state since the return to democracy in 1999.
Eno said, “I begin to feel that how we treat our leaders after they have put in all their efforts to serve can be very discouraging.
“We have done this consistently from Obong Attah, even the distinguished Senate President (Godswill Akpabio), we also vilified him; we went to EFCC. Now, we are doing it to Gov Udom Emmanuel.”
The governor said subjecting leaders to fraud probes after they have served their people well in office would discourage those currently in office from giving their best whilst in service.
“I’m already expecting that it will happen to me but what this does is to discourage leadership; it discourages you from giving your best, from burning out yourself because at the end of the day, the people don’t show you that gratitude,” he said.
“When a man has served his state meritoriously like Governor Udom Emmanuel did, honestly, should be honoured, and should be respected.
“I don’t see a place for this kind of vilification that is going on; it is not correct – I don’t believe it should go on.
“It is not correct, it is not truthful and we need to just dismiss it with a pinch of salt,” he added.
On Tuesday, March 4, 2025, operatives of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) detained Emmanuel for alleged ₦700 billion fraud.
This followed the petitioner’s allegations of money laundering and diversion of funds preferred against PDP’s Emmanuel, who was Akwa Ibom State governor from May 2015 to May 2023.
The petitioner alleged that Emmanuel received ₦3 trillion from the Federation Account in eight years but left a debt profile of ₦500bn and unpaid ongoing projects worth ₦300bn. He was also alleged to be unable to account for ₦700bn.
Former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar says he has no plan to leave the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
Recently, there have been reports that Atiku is finalising moves to join the Social Democratic Party (SDP).
Reacting to the reports in a statement issued on Saturday, Atiku’s media office said the former vice president remains a bonafide member of the PDP.
The media office described the reports as a “fallacy”, urging Nigerians to disregard them.
“We have observed that some news platforms are peddling unverified information that former Vice President Atiku Abubakar is abandoning the Peoples Democratic Party,” the statement reads.
“We wish to clarify that the so-called news of Atiku defecting to another party is a total fallacy that holds no merit in logic.”
The media office said Abubakar has persistently called for a coalition of opposition political parties in Nigeria ahead of the 2027 general election to oust the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).
The media office stressed that the coalition would accommodate all opposition parties, including the PDP.
“Hence, it is fallacious and unfounded to allege that the Waziri is jumping the PDP ship. Such an allegation is antithetical to the objective of the grand coalition, which the former Vice President is currently driving alongside other prominent political leaders in the country,” the media office said.
“We, therefore, wish to state unequivocally that Atiku remains a principal bonafide member of the PDP, the main opposition party.”
Atiku’s media office added that the defection claims are an attempt to “confuse Nigerians about the magnitude of the grand coalition that is at work to rescue Nigeria from the grip of the APC”.
The Nigerian Human Rights Community (NHRC) has criticised the invasion of the Ikeja Electricity Company by armed officers of the Nigerian Air Force.
On Thursday, air force personnel invaded the power company’s headquarters in Lagos over the disconnection of electricity at Sam Ethnan Air Force Base, Ikeja, Lagos state.
Kingsley Okotie, spokesperson for IKEDC, said the NAF personnel vandalised the company’s office, assaulted employees, and made away with several company assets.
In a statement, Adewale Adeoye, the national president of NHRC, called on President Bola Tinubu and the national assembly to set up an independent panel of inquiry to investigate the invasion.
The coalition said the panel should identify the officers responsible for the invasion and bring them to justice.
“Invasion of private or corporate institutions by armed Airforce or soldiers should be a thing of the past after 25 years of post military rule,” the statement reads.
“The orders for the invasion by some senior officers violated the Nigerian constitution and portrayed the country as facing the prospect of brute force intervention, yet with an elected president, in a democracy.
“We are appalled that in this century, armed soldiers could forcefully enter the corporate headquarters of a strategic service provider, beat up its staff, destroy property and even threaten to shoot the workers. This is savage and shows a lack of discipline and professionalism on the part of the air force men.
“The Nigerian Airforce performs critical roles linked to national security. The constant provision of electricity is key to optimum performance. This is understandable.
“Democracy and dialogue are slow but remain the surest and legitimate means of conflict resolution. Violence, no matter the provocation, can never replace the dictates of the constitution.
“This issue should not be swept under the carpet. President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and the National Assembly are strongly urged to set up an independent panel of inquiry to identify the remote causes, the officers involved and to ascertain the extent of damage done to the property of the organisation towards compensation.”