By Adesakin Adefemi
The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency has arrested two elderly men, aged 84 and 75, for allegedly supplying and selling illicit drugs to secondary school students in Umuahia, Abia State.
NDLEA Director of Media and Advocacy, Femi Babafemi, said in a statement Sunday that the suspects, Godfrey Orji, 84, and Godwin Obulunbiya Obiora, 75, were picked up in separate operations by agency operatives.
Obiora was arrested on Friday, June 19, 2026, after credible intelligence indicated he was selling illicit substances to young students from his patent medicine store at 4 Club Road, Umuahia. NDLEA said 4.64kg of opioids, including tramadol and diazepam, were recovered during a search of his premises.
Orji, a pensioner, was nabbed on Thursday, June 18, by security guards at Saint Silas Secondary School, Old Umuahia, for allegedly supplying drugs to two teenage students. The guards handed the suspects over to police, who transferred the case to NDLEA.
One of the students, a 15-year-old SS2 pupil, admitted during interrogation that the 84-year-old “grandpa” regularly supplied him with drugs which he consumed and also sold to fellow students, according to Babafemi.
NDLEA confirmed both elderly suspects will face prosecution. The two students involved have been placed on counselling and rehabilitation programmes under the agency’s War Against Drug Abuse initiative.
The Abia arrests were part of nationwide interdictions by NDLEA. In Lagos, operatives intercepted 9.5kg of ADB-Chminaca, a synthetic cannabinoid from China, concealed in a courier carton. Another seizure recovered 300g of “Loud” cannabis hidden in ladies’ handbags.
In a separate Lagos operation, NDLEA raided the home of wanted dealer Lukman Badmus, aka Lukman Ogombo, in Ogombo, Ajah, recovering nine bottles of codeine and 30g of skunk. A follow-up at his wife’s shop on Lagos Island yielded more codeine, drug paraphernalia, and 22.5kg of skunk hidden in a mini-bus.
NDLEA Chairman, Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa, retd., commended commands in Abia, Lagos, Kogi, Ekiti, Oyo and Edo for the arrests and seizures. He urged officers not to relent, noting that reducing drug supply must be matched with sustained WADA sensitisation across schools and communities.
