Operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) have intercepted more than 1.3 million pills and capsules of tramadol and other opioids as well as 6,000kg of cannabis worth over N3.4 billion in combined street value.

The successes were recorded in a series of operations across Lagos, Edo, Niger, Delta, Ondo, Gombe, Imo and the Federal Capital Territory.

Femi Babafemi, NDLEA’s Director, Media and Advocacy, who disclosed this in a statement issued on Sunday,  said the agency also arrested a suspected fake police officer, a mechanic allegedly using his workshop as a drug storage facility and three young suspects found with two locally fabricated AK-47 rifles, a pistol and ammunition.

According to Babafemi, the operatives intercepted 1,200 parcels of Canadian Loud, a potent strain of cannabis weighing 603.75kg and valued at N1.811 billion.

The operation, he said also led to the arrest of 49-year-old Innocent Ekpe, who was allegedly transporting 292.48kg of skunk in a silver Toyota Sienna bus along the Benin-Onitsha Expressway in Asaba, Delta State, on Wednesday, September 16.

According to the NDLEA, Ekpe had allegedly impersonated a senior police officer to evade security checks while transporting illicit drugs across state lines.

The agency said, “Investigation established that Ekpe had long paraded himself as Godwin Emeka, a Deputy Superintendent of Police, using a forged ID card to escape scrutiny at checkpoints while transporting illicit consignments.”

A 39-year-old accomplice, Nduka Joseph, was also arrested during the operation.

In Edo State, NDLEA operatives acting on intelligence raided a location on Agbor Road, Benin City, where they arrested 45-year-old Matthew Ossai.

The agency said Ossai “used his auto-repair workshop as a front for storing illicit drugs.”

Officers recovered 48kg of Canadian Loud, 152g of methamphetamine and a metal box used to store the illicit substances.

At the Tin-Can Island Port in Lagos, a 40-foot container shipped from Montreal, Canada, which arrived on September 12, was placed under intensive monitoring following intelligence received by NDLEA operatives.

The shipment was subjected to a joint physical examination with Customs and other security agencies on Wednesday, September 16.

The agency said, “The search uncovered 1,200 parcels of Canadian Loud weighing 603.75 kilograms, concealed inside 31 black jumbo bags loaded within two Toyota Sienna vehicles in the container.”

In Niger State, NDLEA operatives on patrol along the Abuja-Kaduna Expressway at Chachi, Tafa Local Government Area, arrested Bashir Usman, 20; Abubakar Nuhu, 18; and Abdulrahman Abdulwahab, 18, on Tuesday, September 15.

The suspects were allegedly found with two locally fabricated AK-47 rifles and a magazine, a locally made pistol with a magazine and nine rounds of 9mm ammunition concealed in a black travel bag.

Also in Niger State, NDLEA officers on Friday, September 18, arrested Aminu Isyaku, 23, and Jamilu Habibu, 25, along the Abaji-Abuja highway.

More than 1.1 million assorted tramadol tablets and capsules, codeine syrup, methamphetamine and Exol tablets were recovered from the suspects.

 
The agency said the drugs were “concealed in eight sacks en route from Onitsha, Anambra state to Mararaba, Nasarawa state.”

In Lagos, NDLEA operatives arrested Onyeka Ofor at his residence in Aguda, Surulere, on Friday, September 18, with 48,900 pills of tramadol 225mg.

Seven cartons of cannabis sativa weighing 59kg were also intercepted at a logistics company, with a suspect, Luke Ugokwe, taken into custody.

In another operation in Lagos, 43-year-old Ibrahim Hudu was arrested at Apogbon on Thursday, September 17, with 998.38kg of nitrous oxide gas.

In Gombe State, 154,480 capsules of tramadol were recovered from Sabi’u Umar, 27, and Hassana Muhammad, 19, who were arrested separately at the Barunde area and Gombe main market on Friday, September 18.

In Imo State, 25-year-old Ifesinachi Godwin was arrested along the Owerri-Onitsha Road with 43.85kg of skunk on Friday.

Meanwhile, four suspects identified as Blessing Effiong, Saviour Peter, David Friday Sunday and Ability Peter Sunday were arrested during a raid on a two-hectare cannabis farm in Ita-Ogbolu forest, Ondo State.

The operation also led to the destruction of 5,000kg of skunk, while 48kg of dry and fresh cannabis was recovered for the prosecution of the suspects.

While commending the officers and personnel of the affected commands, NDLEA Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (rtd), praised their professionalism and intelligence-driven approach to the operations.

Marwa urged them and their colleagues across the country to sustain the agency’s approach to drug control.

He said they should “continue with the current balanced approach to the drug control efforts of the Agency.”

1. The leadership of the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC) has distanced itself from the 59-member presidential campaign council constituted by OK Movement, a support group for Peter Obi, presidential candidate of the party, and his running mate, Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso.

In a statement on Saturday, Cleopas Moses, NDC national chairman, said the list did not emanate from the party and should be disregarded.

2. Former Senior Special Assistant Media and Publicity to the late President Muhammadu Buhari, Mallam Garba Shehu, said yesterday that the litigation instituted against Nigeria by Sunrise Power and Transmission Company at the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) tribunal in Paris was doomed from the outset. 
Garba, who personally attended the January 15, 2025 sitting of the tribunal in the French capital, said it was clear from day one that Sunrise and its promoter Leno Adesanya “would lose this case following the failure of all the witnesses they invited, including, of course, a beautiful lady from Senegal allegedly providing comfort to one of their government contacts.

3. The Presidency yesterday knocked back economic proposals by the presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), Alhaji Atiku Abubakar. It asked him to take the proposals to Nigerians on his campaign trail rather than seeking to dictate how President Bola Tinubu should govern the country.

4. The Nigeria Hydrological Services Agency (NIHSA) has forecast a high risk of riverine flooding across 15 states between September 19 to 25.
In its national flood advisory issued on Friday, the agency said rising river levels could trigger flooding in communities located on floodplains during the seven-day period.
The affected states are Imo, Cross River, Ebonyi, Benue, Anambra, Akwa Ibom, Lagos, Rivers, Edo, Kogi, Taraba, Delta, Bayelsa, Enugu and Abia.

5. Delta State Police Command has arrested a suspect after its personnel intercepted a vehicle conveying military camouflage uniforms, boots and hats, as well as cartons of suspected Tramadol and other illicit drugs. The vehicle, a green Toyota Sienna with registration number KP 527 AAA, was intercepted by operatives of the command’s Anti-Cult Unit, Asaba, along the Onitsha-Ondo route on Friday.

6. Police in Rivers State have begun an investigation into the killing of a father of four, Kamadioye Krama, by gunmen in Emulation community, Abua/Odual Local Government Area. The spokesperson for the State Police Command, Blessing Agabe, confirmed the incident, stating that an investigation was ongoing to apprehend the culprits and bring them to book.

7. President Bola Tinubu has said that, from October 1, commuters across Nigeria must begin to see measurable reductions in transportation fares, as he has directed all 36 states to accelerate the National Affordable CNG Transit Programme. In a statement personally signed and released on Saturday, September 19, Tinubu said the push followed his August 27 meeting with state governors.

8. The Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, NSCDC, has deployed Abdulhamid Kabara as the new commandant of its Niger State Command following the deaths of 37 suspected illegal miners in custody. Kabara replaces Suberu Aniviye, who was suspended as Niger NSCDC commandant after the 37 suspects died in Minna, the state capital, on Thursday.

9. The Northern Senators Forum on Saturday called for an immediate, transparent and independent investigation into the deaths of 37 young Nigerians in the custody of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, NSCDC, in Minna, Niger State. It described the circumstances surrounding the occurrence as “deeply disturbing and unacceptable.”

10. The Minister of Interior, Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, has suspended the Niger State Commandant of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), Suberu Aniviye, and 20 other officers following the deaths of 37 suspected illegal miners in the Corps’ custody. The officers were suspended pending the outcome of an independent investigation into the deaths, which occurred on Thursday, September 17, 2026. The Ministry of Interior announced the development in a statement signed by Tunji-Ojo on Saturday

  The minister of aviation, Festus Keyamo, and the special adviser to President Bola Tinubu on media and public communication, Sunday Dare, have criticised former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar for referring to the President as “Bola”.

Keyamo described Atiku’s use of Tinubu’s first name as “disrespectful and discourteous”.

“The continuous reference to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu by His Excellency, ex Vice-President Atiku Abubakar in his press conference earlier today as ‘Bola’ is very disrespectful and discourteous,” he wrote on X.

He said Atiku should recognise that the office of the president deserves to be accorded dignity despite political differences.

“He should know better that no matter your differences with Mr. President, for the sake of the country, that office should be accorded all the dignity it deserves,” Keyamo said.

Keyamo also described the tone of Atiku’s remarks as reflecting “pain and bitterness”, while referring to the former vice-president’s recent comment about Tinubu’s age.

“After all, he made the outlandish claim the other day that Mr. President is older than himself. It is therefore a contradiction that he would also refer to an ‘elder’ by his first name,” he said.

Also, Dare, in a post on X on Saturday,  reacted to Atiku’s call for Tinubu to reduce petrol and electricity costs.

Atiku had on Friday asked Tinubu to use the remaining eight months of his administration to reduce the burden of petrol and electricity costs on households, workers and businesses.

He said the removal of petrol subsidy in May 2023 had contributed to higher transportation, food, logistics and energy costs. He also warned against phasing out electricity subsidies without addressing the impact on households and businesses.

Dare described Atiku’s manner of addressing the president as “the height of insolence”, accusing the former vice-president of political desperation.

“Alhaji Atiku’s manner of addressing President Bola Tinubu as Bola is the height of insolence. It is a clear descent into the abyss of unbridled desperation and an unraveling mind,” Dare wrote.

“To seek to lecture a sitting president with the unbridled insolence of dropping his first name, petulantly barking instructions, and dictating how governance should be run within a truncated timeline is the height of political hubris.”

Dare defended the Tinubu administration’s economic policies, saying the president was undertaking reforms to address structural problems in the economy.

Dare also questioned Atiku’s criticism of government intervention in the economy.

“Atiku’s sudden conversion to the gospel of interventionism rings hollow,” he said.

He accused Atiku of using Nigerians’ economic difficulties for political purposes ahead of the 2027 elections.

“This is a desperate strategy by a perennial seeker of power who weaponizes transient national discomforts for electoral mileage,” Dare added.

“Nigerians do not need lectures on fiscal management from a political wanderer whose decades-long pursuit of the presidency has been defined by perpetual opportunism.”