My shop burnt down’, 101-year-old grandma explains why she sold cocaine

Jeremiah Adeshina

At 101, Esther Ogunmabo had lived through more than a century of Nigeria’s history, but a devastating fire that razed her provisions shop reportedly pushed the great-grandmother into an unlikely and dangerous means of survival — selling cannabis to people in her community.

The centenarian was arrested by operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) on Saturday, August 15, 2026, in Ilisan, Ogun State, with 90 grams of skunk, a strain of cannabis, packaged in retail sachets.

According to the Director, Media and Advocacy, NDLEA Headquarters, Femi Babafemi, Ogunmabo told operatives that she turned to the illicit drug trade after losing her provisions shop to fire, while one of her daughters, who lives in Lagos, allegedly supplied her with the substance every four days for onward sale in small quantities.

Because of her advanced age, NDLEA Chairman/Chief Executive Officer, Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (Rtd.), directed that she be granted bail and placed on counselling, while her daughter was arrested.

The agency also seized large consignments of Loud, a synthetic cannabis strain valued at over ₦4.4 billion, at the Apapa and Lekki ports in Lagos.

In a related development, NDLEA operatives in Akwa Ibom State, acting on credible intelligence, intercepted a wooden boat on the high seas on Friday, August 21, conveying illicit drugs to fishing settlements in the Republic of Cameroon.

Three suspects were arrested on board the boat, which was heading to Ine Isu, Ine Mbah and Ine Ikot Itie Udung fishing ports in Cameroon. They include Etima Effiong Eekpo, 29, who was caught with 1.120kg of skunk; Otobong Eyoh Etukudoh, 33, who had 42.060kg of skunk in his possession; and 27-year-old Kingsley Effiong John, who was found with 20 grams of cocaine cleverly concealed inside a large wrap of edible cassava fufu, alongside 435 grams of skunk. A total of 42.622kg of narcotics was recovered from the trio.

In the nation’s maritime space, the Agency recorded its first-ever seizure of illicit drugs shipped from Thailand through the maritime corridor following the interception of two containers of cannabis indica, also known as Loud, at the Apapa and Lekki ports. The combined street value of the seized consignment was put at over ₦4.4 billion.

Both containers were loaded at the Port of Laem Chabang, Thailand, underscoring the emergence of a new trafficking route being exploited by drug syndicates to smuggle synthetic cannabis into the country.

At the Apapa Port, a container declared to be conveying dry fish, rice, vehicle spare parts, turmeric soap and inverter batteries was found, during a joint examination of the shipment on Friday, August 21, by the NDLEA, Customs and other agencies, to contain 1,090.5kg of Thai Loud packed in 54 cartons comprising 2,181 sachets of 500 grams each.

At the Lekki Deep Sea Port, a similar container, which had been placed on the Agency’s watchlist and monitored by its Marine Special Operations Unit, was jointly examined on Wednesday, August 19. Of the seven pallets found in the container and wrapped in black nylon, four were confirmed to contain Thai Loud, yielding 96 cartons made up of 400 parcels weighing a total of 400kg.

The remaining three pallets contained 798 reams of A4 paper, which had been used as cover for the consignment.
In the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja, NDLEA operatives on Saturday, August 22, intercepted three waybill packages containing 24,410 capsules of tramadol inside a Hummer bus travelling from Enugu to Zuba.

A follow-up operation conducted in Niger State led to the arrest of the owner of the consignment, Sunday Eze, 28, in Kontagora, after which he was transferred to Abuja.

Operatives in Ondo State, on Wednesday, August 19, raided a cannabis farm at Ijare Forest, Ifedore Local Government Area, following the earlier arrest of three suspected cannabis planters at the same location on August 16.

The team destroyed a total of 10,000kg of skunk cultivated across four hectares of the forest.

In a separate operation in the state, operatives, on the same day, at Ita-Ogbolu, Akure North LGA, recovered 210kg of skunk and a Toyota Camry car with registration number AGL 223 JH belonging to Sylvester Dibiagu Anthony, who is currently at large.

In Kwara State, NDLEA operatives on patrol along the Ogbomosho-Ilorin Expressway, Ilorin, on Friday, August 21, intercepted a Toyota Starlet car without a registration number.

A search of the vehicle led to the recovery of 1.325kg of methamphetamine, wrapped in black nylon bags, alongside quantities of cannabis sativa. One suspect, Muhammadu Usman, 22, was arrested in connection with the seizure.

A 65-year-old woman, Adebayo Kaosarat, was arrested in the Akobo-Ojuirin area of Ibadan, Oyo State, on Friday, August 21, with a cocktail of substances comprising 1.795kg of Scottish Loud, 1.66kg of tramadol, 600g of codeine syrup, 125g of diazepam and 50g of flunitrazepam, totalling 4.68kg.

A raid at Hadeija Road, Kano, on Monday, August 17, led to the arrest of Chibuzor Madueke, 31, with 98 blocks of skunk weighing 73.3kg recovered from him.

Similarly, an operation by NDLEA operatives at Seme, Badagry area of Lagos, led to the arrest of three family members: Nasiru Tijjani, 52; Moshood Tijjani, 27; and Salami Tijjani, 27, at Ashipa area, near the Seme border, with 48kg of skunk.

In Abia State, NDLEA officers on Thursday, August 20, raided the residence of Ikechukwu Anthony Iwuno, 36, at Umuobia Olokoro area of Umuahia South LGA, where 14.4kg of Loud, 2.3kg of Colorado, 386 grams of tramadol and 134 grams of Rohypnol were recovered.

With the same vigour, commands and formations of the Agency across the country continued their War Against Drug Abuse (WADA) sensitisation activities in schools, worship centres, workplaces and communities, among others, during the past week.

These included WADA enlightenment lectures to students and staff of Umar Bn Khattab College for Islamic Studies, Ungogo LGA, Kano; Markaz Al-Furqan Centre of Islamic and Arabic Teaching, Kishi, Oyo State; School of Nursing and Midwifery, Birnin Kebbi, Kebbi State; Mu’assasah Tahfizul Qur’an Islamiya School, Ibi, Taraba State; and members of the Scout Association of Nigeria at the first National Youth Camp held in Benin City, Edo State.

The Idiroko Special Area Command of the NDLEA also paid a WADA advocacy visit to the Chairman of Ipokia LGA, Ogun State, Hon. Johnson Avoseh, among others.

While commending the officers and men of the Ogun, Apapa, Lekki, Seme, Akwa Ibom, Ondo, Oyo, Kwara, Kano, Abia and FCT Commands for their various successful operations, the Chairman/Chief Executive Officer of the NDLEA, Brig. Gen. Marwa (Rtd.), enjoined them and their colleagues across the country to continue with the Agency’s current balanced approach to drug control efforts.