News & Announcements

Over 2.3million tablets of illicit pharmaceutical opioids and other psychoactive substances meant for distribution in seven Northern states of Borno, Kano, Kaduna, Sokoto, Zamfara, Gombe and Nasarawa have been intercepted by operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA in series of interdiction operations in the past week.

In all, a total of Two Million Three Hundred and Twenty-Five Thousand Five Hundred and Fifty Three (2, 325, 553.00) tablets and capsules of Tramadol, Pregabalin, Hypnox, Diazepam and Exol-5 including 7, 353 bottles of a new psychoactive substance locally called Akuskura meant for the seven states were seized from locations across Kaduna, Kogi, Sokoto, and the FCT.

In Kaduna, a drug dealer Umar Sanusi, was arrested on Friday 12th August during a follow up operation in Kano and brought back to Kaduna where his consignment of 50 cartons of pregabalin 300mg, containing 750,000 capsules, weighing 375kgs earlier seized along Abuja-Kaduna expressway was counted and weighed in his presence.

Same day, operatives also intercepted along Abuja-Kaduna express road 7,068 bottles of a new dangerous substance of abuse called Akuskura meant for Kaduna, Zamfara, Gombe, Kano and Borno. The recipients in Kaduna and Zamfara have been arrested during follow-up operations. The following day, Saturday 13th August, 285 bottles of the NPS were recovered from a dealer, Abubakar Ahmad, along the same highway.

In Kogi, no fewer than 696,000 tablets of Tramadol and Exol-5 among others loaded into a truck at Onitsha, Anambra state, and heading to Maiduguri, Borno state, were seized along Okene-Abuja expressway on Friday 19th Aug, while NDLEA operatives also recovered 300,000 tablets of Diazepam from a suspect, Faruku Bello, 30, in Sokoto State on Wednesday 17th Aug.

Anti-narcotic officers of the Agency in Abuja FCT equally at the weekend intercepted a bus loaded with 323, 200 tablets of Tramadol 225mg and others at Onitsha, Anambra state heading to Nasarawa state. Driver of the vehicle, Osita Nwobodo, 45, who made fruitless bids to compromise the operatives is now in custody.

A major importer of Loud variant of cannabis from the United States, Abibu Afis Sola and a 63-year-old grandfather who ships illicit substances to his daughter in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, UAE are among those arrested by NDLEA operatives at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, MMIA, Ikeja Lagos.
Abibu was arrested in connection with a 19.30kg Colorado consignment from Los Angeles, USA, which was intercepted on 30th June at the NAHCO cargo import shed of the Lagos airport. While Abibu was still being interviewed in custody, a 37.1kg consignment of Loud intercepted on 7th July was also traced to him.

Meanwhile, a freight agent, Miss Njoko Elizabeth, 37, has been arrested for attempting to export 250grams of Tramadol and cannabis to Dubai through the NAHCO export shed. The drug exhibits were concealed inside some gallons of palm oil and honey, which were packed among food items and hair attachment.

Also at the Lagos airport, 249,600 tablets of Tramadol 225mg have been recovered from a shipment from India at the SAHCO import shed of the MMIA.

The consignment that arrived from India via Addis Ababa on Ethiopian Airline flight on 4th Aug was eventually evacuated on Wednesday 17th Aug as an abandoned seizure.
The 63-year-old grandfather behind an intercepted drug exhibit going to Dubai, Afolabi Abideen Kolawole on 4th Aug has been arrested in Ibadan, Oyo state on Thursday 18th Aug after more than four sets of arrests eventually unraveled him.

He confessed that he was responsible for the concealment and packaging of the cannabis inside the black native soap used as mode of concealment. He also admitted this was his second attempt at sending such illicit substance to his daughter, Barakat, in Dubai.

An Italy-bound passenger, Oziengbe Ehighalua Andrew, 55, was on Friday 19th Aug arrested with 600grams of Tramadol 200mg while attempting to board Royal Air Maroc flight to Italy, via Casablanca. In the same vein, seven cartons of khat leaf with a total weight of 295kg have been seized at the NAHCO import shed of the Lagos airport. The consignment came into Nigeria from Tanzania through Cairo on Egypt Air.

Operatives of the Directorate of Operation and General Investigation, DOGI, in NDLEA attached to courier firms have intercepted 11.36kg heroin and cannabis packaged for UAE, Netherlands and Omar. The drugs were concealed in dictionaries, fancy light, and body cream.
In Niger state, 139 bags and 176 compressed blocks of cannabis loaded in Ogere, Ogun state and heading to Zaria, Kaduna state were seized by NDLEA operatives along Abuja-Kaduna road, Suleja from a company vehicle while the driver, Sani Mohammed, 44, and his assistant, Abubakar Abubakar, 30, were arrested.

Raids carried out in Akala, Mushin area of Lagos also led to the arrest of Pelumi Goodness and Ola Funke while over 1,171.75kg cannabis and 29 liters of codeine syrup were recovered.

Chairman/Chief Executive of NDLEA, Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (Retd) commended the officers and men of the MMIA, Kaduna, Kogi, Sokoto, and FCT Commands as well as DOGI for the arrests and seizures. He urged them and their compatriots across the country to intensify their drug supply reduction and drug demand reduction efforts.

An Ugandan-based businessman and author, Aita Joel, has undergone a vasectomy after giving birth to five children.
He took to his Twitter page, @aitaljoel, to share photos of himself during the surgery.
In the post, the entrepreneur said he took the decision so he can focus on giving his five children a quality life.

The businessman, who describes himself as chairman at Muni University in Uganda, also said he can only manage five children, hence his resolve to adopt birth control.
He tweeted, “Vasectomy. After the birth of kid 5, I decided to end the journey and concentrate on giving them a quality life. At times the man has to take responsibility for birth control and besides a good quality of life for the children can only be given to a number you can manage. It’s simple,” he wrote.
“If you want real good education for your children, you have to pay for a very good school. Definitely when a primary school charges you over 20m per term per kid.

“Then you need to have a number you can manage. In my case, I can manage five. Someone else can manage ten. Another less.”
Vasectomy is a medical procedure to cut the tubes carrying a man’s sperm out of the body. It does not allow a man’s sperm enters the urethra and thereby prevents fertilization of a female through sexual intercourse.

Both pilots of an Ethiopian Airlines passenger plane fell asleep on approach to an airport in Ethiopia, causing them to overfly the runway before an alarm from the autopilot woke them up.
The incident happened earlier this week when Ethiopian Airlines Flight 343, a Boeing 737-800, was flying from Khartoum, the capital of Sudan, to Addis Ababa, the capital of Ethiopia, according to a report from The Aviation Herald.

The Boeing 737 was flying at an altitude of 37,000 feet (11,277 meters) when the pilots fell asleep in the cockpit, causing the plane to approach Addis Ababa Boke International Airport without descending.
“[Air traffic control] tried to contact the crew numerous times without success,” The Aviation Herald reported. After overflying the runway at 37,000 feet, the autopilot disconnected, setting off an alarm that caused the pilots to wake up.
The plane returned to the airport and landed safely about 25 minutes later.

 The National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) has said it has begun a nationwide crackdown on producers of unapproved sex-enhancing drugs in the country.
The Director-General of the agency, Prof. Mojisola Adeyeye, made this known at a news conference in Abuja.

She said that the step was taken after clinical analysis revealed that most of the sex enhancers were laced with Indian hemp and very dangerous chemicals that could damage the liver and kidney.
Adeyeye said one of the dangerous products discovered by NAFDAC was “Kurkura”, used particularly in the Southwest and Northern axis of the country.

The D-G listed five types of “Kurkura” to include: Five minutes’ power herbal medicine, Haonu laha herbal mixture, Gamzaki tradomedical herbal ventures, and Barakallahu multipurpose herbal mixture.
“Out of the above, only Haonu laha herbal mixture is registered, but nonetheless laced with unapproved substances that are injurious to the body.

“Among many others, Kurkura is an illicit product illegally consumed for the sole aim of getting intoxicated.
“The substance when used can be harmful to the body organs such as the brain, kidney and liver. The damage to the kidney and liver cannot be overemphasised.

“This substance can cause irrational thinking, altered state of mind, which if taken by drivers can lead to road traffic accidents with attendant fatality consequences.
“This could also lead to criminal behaviours such as rape, kidnapping, and murder,” she stressed.
The D-G said that the agency would prosecute any of the illegal manufacturers and distributors arrested.
“Findings from various operations carried out by the agency revealed a dangerous trend in the use of such substance laced with high concentration of tobacco and sometimes cannabis.

“Some categories of people in the population such as artisans, drivers, commercial motorcycle drivers and others, have been engrossed in the consumption of these substances, which are dangerous to the health.
Adeyeye said that the agency recent impounded some dangerous herbal aphrodisiacs in Zaria, Kaduna State.

She listed the products as Gagare manpower, Minister for manpower, Almenjou for lazy men in bed, Nisan zango karfin maza, Shagalin ka manpower, Dakan jiya manpower enhancement, Wuff male sexual performance, and Afafata.
“So far, only one of the illegal factories involved in the production of such unauthorized products has been shut down and the owner arrested,” the D-G said.

Adeyeye explained that the owner was using Hyergra 200 (Sildenafil Citrate tablet), Amafranil tablets (Clomipramine tablet 25mg) and Cannon Extra (Paracetamol 500mg + Caffeine 30mg) in the production of his fake herbal aphrodisiacs.
“The owner admitted that he dissolves the Hyergra 200, Cannon Extra, and the Amafranil in a drum and mixes the content with boiled Kanunfari, Garlic, Dundu, Marke, Hankufa, Sweetener, and Sodium Benzoate to make up the manpower preparation.”

She added that the label on the prepared herbal manpower drug reads 100 percent herbal.
The D-G also said that an alcoholic bitters product popularly known as “Japata” which was duly registered by the agency, was discovered to be laced with marijuana, quite different to the registered one which only had ethanol.

According to her, NAFDAC has been able to shutdown the company and will continue with the raid.
She urged well-meaning Nigerians to be drivers of the war against fake and counterfeit drugs, as well as adulterated and unwholesome foods and other regulated products.
Adeyeye assured Nigerians that NAFDAC was doing all it could to ensure that only safe medicines and wholesome foods  were sold to citizens.

The D-G also solicited the support of health practitioners, community and religious leaders, the press and all other stakeholders, to enlighten the citizenry not to patronise quacks.
She called on Nigerians to be watchful of drugs, food, and other regulated products they purchase and report any suspicious activities within their environment to NAFDAC.

British author Salman Rushdie, whose writings have made him the target of Iranian death threats, was attacked and stabbed in the neck at a literary event on Friday in western New York state.

Police said that a male suspect stormed the stage and attacked Rushdie and an interviewer, with the writer suffering “an apparent stab wound to the neck.”

He was rushed by helicopter to a local hospital, police said, adding that his condition was not known.

New York governor, Kathy Hochul said Rushdie was alive and hailed him as “an individual who has spent decades speaking truth to power.”

“We condemn all violence, and we want people to be able to feel (the) freedom to speak and to write the truth,” she said.

A state trooper assigned to the event at the Chautauqua Institution, where Rushdie was due to give a talk, immediately took the suspect into custody.

Police gave no details about the suspect’s identity or any probable motive.

Social media footage showed people rushing to Rushdie’s aid and administrating emergency medical care. The interviewer also suffered a head injury in the attack.

The Chautauqua Institution — which puts on arts and literary programming in a tranquil lakeside community seventy miles (110 kilometers) south of Buffalo — said in a statement that it was coordinating with law enforcement and emergency officials.

– A decade in hiding –

Rushdie, 75, was propelled into the spotlight with his second novel “Midnight’s Children” in 1981, which won international praise and Britain’s prestigious Booker Prize for its portrayal of post-independence India.

But his 1988 book “The Satanic Verses” brought attention beyond his imagination when it sparked a fatwa, or religious decree, calling for his death by Iranian revolutionary leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini.

The novel was considered by some Muslims as disrespectful of the Prophet Mohammed.

Rushdie, who was born in India to non-practicing Muslims and today identifies as an atheist, was forced to go underground as a bounty was put on his head — which remains today.

He was granted police protection by the government in Britain, where he was at school and where he made his home, following the murder or attempted murder of his translators and publishers.

He spent nearly a decade in hiding, moving houses repeatedly and being unable to tell his children where he lived.

Rushdie only began to emerge from his life on the run in the late 1990s after Iran 1998 said it would not support his assassination.

Now living in New York, he is an advocate of freedom of speech, notably launching a strong defence of the French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo after its staff was gunned down by Islamists in Paris in 2015.

The magazine had published drawings of Mohammed that drew furious reactions from Muslims worldwide.

– An ‘essential voice’ –

Threats and boycotts continue against literary events that Rushdie attends, and his knighthood in 2007 sparked protests in Iran and Pakistan, where a government minister said the honour justified suicide bombings.

The fatwa failed to stifle Rushdie’s writing and inspired his memoir “Joseph Anton,” named after his alias while in hiding and written in the third person.

“Midnight’s Children” — which runs to more than 600 pages — has been adapted for the stage and silver screen, and his books have been translated into more than 40 languages.

Suzanne Nossel, head of the PEN America organization, said the free speech advocacy group was “reeling from shock and horror.”

“Just hours before the attack, on Friday morning, Salman had emailed me to help with placements for Ukrainian writers in need of safe refuge from the grave perils they face,” Nossel said in a statement.

“Our thoughts and passions now lie with our dauntless Salman, wishing him a full and speedy recovery. We hope and believe fervently that his essential voice cannot and will not be silenced.”

American OnlyFans and Instagram model Courtney Clenney, who stabbed her boyfriend Christian Toby Obumseli to death in Miami, United States in April has been arrested on a murder charge.
The 26-year-old Clenney was detained on Wednesday in Hawaii and will be extradited to Miami-Dade County to face trial.
According to New York Post on Thursday, she is being charged with second-degree murder with a deadly weapon for the stabbing of Obumseli on April 3, 2022.

Her arrest was confirmed Wednesday afternoon by her Miami defence lawyer, Frank Prieto, who said she had been in Hawaii while in rehabilitation for substance abuse and post-traumatic stress disorder.
“I’m completely shocked, especially since we were cooperating with the investigation and offered to voluntarily surrender her if she were charged. We look forward to clearing her name in court,” Prieto said.
The Miami-Dade State Attorney’s Office, in a press release on Wednesday evening, said the arrest warrant remained sealed. State Attorney Katherine Fernandez, along with City Police Chief Manuel Morales and South Florida U.S. Marshal Gadyaces Serralta, will detail the arrest.

With more than a third of the results from Kenya’s presidential election now confirmed, the two main candidates are running neck and neck.
Deputy President William Ruto has taken a slight lead over ex-Prime Minister Raila Odinga Deputy – 51% against 48%, reports the BBC.

The head of the electoral commission has admitted that announcing the result of Tuesday’s election is too slow.
The verification of results has been stopped several times after complaints by supporters of the main candidates.

Odinga’s supporters have disrupted the result verification process several times and accosted some of the electoral officials, accusing them of tampering with the vote.
Amid the melee, Odinga’s chief campaign manager was able to get to the lectern used by top electoral commission officials, where he criticized the result verification process.

“I want to announce to the nation that Bomas of Kenya is a scene of the crime,” said Saitabao Ole Kanchory, before the microphone was switched off and he was led away. Bomas is the name of the cultural centre in the capital, Nairobi, which is being used as the main tallying centre.

Riot police have been deployed inside the building to reinforce security.
The results of 141 of the 292 constituencies have now been officially verified.
Previously, media organisations have been releasing provisional tallies using official data from the 46,000 polling stations. They also show a tight race between the two candidates.

About 14 million votes were cast – a turnout of 65%.
The electoral commission has until Tuesday, August 16 to declare the winner.
“We have to make adjustments” to quicken the process of verifying results, the head of the electoral body Wafula Chebukati said in his latest briefing on Saturday.

“It’s taking three to four hours” to process the result from a single constituency, he said. “Some of our returning officers have stayed here for three days sitting on chairs which is totally unacceptable.”
“We believe that this will fasten the process and we should be able to dispose of the returning officers in the course of today,” Chebubati said.

Extra police officers have also been drafted in.
Media tallies of results from more than 46,000 polling stations – posted on the electoral commission’s website – have also caused some confusion in the country because the counts didn’t match.
Officials denied claims on social media that fake results had been posted after the system hosting the results were hacked.

“Nothing like that has happened. It is misinformation,” said the electoral commission’s CEO Marjan Hussein Marjan.

American OnlyFans and Instagram model Courtney Clenney, who stabbed her boyfriend Christian Toby Obumseli to death in Miami, United States in April has been arrested on a murder charge.
The 26-year-old Clenney was detained on Wednesday in Hawaii and will be extradited to Miami-Dade County to face trial.

According to New York Post on Thursday, she is being charged with second-degree murder with a deadly weapon for the stabbing of Obumseli on April 3, 2022.
Her arrest was confirmed Wednesday afternoon by her Miami defence lawyer, Frank Prieto, who said she had been in Hawaii while in rehabilitation for substance abuse and post-traumatic stress disorder.

“I’m completely shocked, especially since we were cooperating with the investigation and offered to voluntarily surrender her if she were charged. We look forward to clearing her name in court,” Prieto said.
The Miami-Dade State Attorney’s Office, in a press release on Wednesday evening, said the arrest warrant remained sealed. State Attorney Katherine Fernandez, along with City Police Chief Manuel Morales and South Florida U.S. Marshal Gadyaces Serralta, will detail the arrest.

Rivers State governor, Nyesom Wike, is promising a more intense political engagement from his camp ahead of next year’s elections, saying his strategies will choke his opponents.

Governor Wike stated this on Friday during the commissioning of the Rivers House of Assembly residential Quarters, in response to some media publications.

The publications in question were that the Governor has removed the insignia of the PDP, including its flag from the Rivers State government House and has also sued the party, its presidential candidate, and the Governor of Sokoto State over the outcome of the Presidential primary.

He said the publications were the handiwork of his detractors who he claimed are supporters of the presidential candidate of his party, Atiku Abubakar.

Governor Wike dismissed both reports as false and warned the said Atiku supporters to allow him to concentrate on governance.
He, however, promised to begin real-time politics in a short while after completing the series of project inauguration and flag off, vowing to “choke them”.

Wike also warned Atiku to be wary of those who pledge support for him, accusing such persons of being the same people that thwarted Atiku’s chance of winning the 2019 Presidential election.
On why he invited the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila, to commission the project in Port Harcourt, Governor Wike said the federal lawmaker helped his administration to access the Paris Club Refund, part of which was used in executing the House of Assembly Quarters project.

He said he holds the Speaker in high esteem, desire being one of the PDP leaders who plotted against him being elected the Speaker of the House in 2019.
According to him, he does not regret the action, because he was playing the role deserving of an opposition figure, even though some of those who plotted with him later betrayed him and turned around to support Mr. Gbajabiamila to emerge the presiding officer.

In his speech, the Speaker encouraged Governor Wike to choke his detractors.
He told Governor Wike that the same people who foiled the plot to stop his speakership ambition were the same people who betrayed the Rivers State Governor at the PDP Presidential primary.
Gbajabiamila said, although he and Governor Wike belong to different political parties, they both share a determination to ensure a united Nigeria.

The Speaker asserted his conviction on the phrase that in politics there is no permanent friendship or enmity.
He, however, expressed the hopes that his friendship with Governor Wike will be a permanent one.

The handlers of singer, Innocent Idibia, popularly known as 2Baba, have denied rumours that the musician is expecting a baby from another woman.
There have been insinuations on social media that the pop icon, had impregnated another woman after he made a post on social media apologizing to his wife, Annie for ‘messing up’ and embarrassing her.
In the post that went viral on the Internet, the legendary singer wrote in part, “This is no stunt. I am sorry for all the embarrassment I’ve caused my wife, my kids, my mother and all our families, and my management team. I am not looking for sympathy. I am not trying to make myself look good. This is no reverse psychology…”

The singer’s management, however, insisted that there was no hidden meaning in the post.
“It is understandable for fans, friends, and concerned members of the public to get curious and seek to know why 2baba posted an apology to his wife, family, and management a few days ago.
“We will like to put it on record that the ‘why’ is exactly what was explicitly spelled out in the same post— the pressure of almost a quarter of a century of superstardom and a wish to focus on making music without the burden of high expectations of a role model.

“Reports of him getting anyone pregnant are totally false and malicious and we urge well-meaning media platforms and members of the public to completely disregard such. It is fake news.
“Many will recall that this fictitious banker character has been repeatedly getting ‘e-pregnant’ for 2Baba every two or three years since 2014. There is no iota of truth in the allegation,” the statement reads.