The founder and general overseer of The Turn of Mercy Church, Prophet Adefolusho Aanu Olasele (also known as Abbas Ajakaiye), was apprehended by National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) agents for orchestrating several drug shipments into Nigeria after months of escaping overseas to avoid capture.
On Sunday, August 3, 2025, Prophet Adefolusho was taken into custody at his church in Okun Ajah, Ogombo Road, Lekki, Lagos. NDLEA officers had been waiting for him since the morning to finish the Sunday worship service in the evening, and they moved in on him as soon as he left the church grounds.
The arrest came after he had evaded arrest twice and fled to Ghana to hide since June when operatives started trailing him following the seizure of two shipments of Ghana Loud, a strain of cannabis linked to him, Femi Babafemi, NDLEA spokesman said in a statement on Sunday.
On June 4, 2025, 200 kg of the psychoactive drug was initially seized at Okun Ajah beach. On July 6, 2025, a second shipment of 700 kg of the same substance was found in his delivery vehicle.
He acknowledged transporting illegal goods from Ghana into Nigeria via the waterways in his confession, adding that he had run away to hide in the West African nation after eluding capture twice recently.
In another operation in Lagos, on Thursday, August 7, NDLEA agents raided an apartment at Kishi House 11 Layi Ajayi Bembe Street, Parkview Estate, Ikoyi. They found 32 pouches of Canadian Loud, a cannabis strain weighing 15.63 kg, and arrested suspect Benjamin Udo Ukoh.
In Nasarawa State, NDLEA operatives on Saturday, 9th August, recovered a large consignment of skunk, a strain of cannabis weighing 3,093 kilograms from the trio of Emmanuel Asoquo Johnny, 51; Okem Raphael, 33; and Chekwube Odo, 25, at New Karu area of the state.
While 29-year-old Nura Yahaya was nabbed at Geza area of Kumbotso, Kano State with 639 blocks of skunk weighing 359kg on Friday, 8th August, another suspect Umar Adamu Umar, 27, was taken into custody on Wednesday, 6th August by NDLEA officers after seizing 9kg of Colorado, a synthetic strain of cannabis from him along Zaria-Kano road, Kano.
In another interdiction operation in Kano, 20,000 pills of tramadol and 200 ampoules of diazepam injection were recovered from a suspect Usman Musa, 30, at Gadar Tamburawa along Zaria-Kano road on Friday, 8th August.
On Friday, August 8, 550,266 opioid tablets, mostly tramadol, were found during a raid at an unfinished structure in Tudun Wadan Pantami in Gombe town, Gombe State. Usama Isah, a suspect, was also taken into custody. On Saturday, August 9, NDLEA agents detained Ibrahim Adamu, a 23-year-old suspect, along Potiskum Road in Bajoga while in possession of 50,000 tramadol capsules.
On Wednesday, August 6, NDLEA agents stopped a white Toyota Hiace bus, registered YAB 5522 K, that was travelling from Onitsha, Anambra to Isanlu in Kogi at Ewu junction. Following a search, they found 23,940 tramadol capsules, 1,100 tablets of the same opioid, and 400 ampoules of pentazocine injection. Taiye Jethro, a suspect, was taken into custody.
In like manner, commands and formations of the Agency across the country continued their War Against Drug Abuse (WADA) sensitization activities to schools, worship centres, workplaces, and communities among others in the past week.
The Nigerian Army 241 Recce Model Battalion officers in Nguru, Yobe; members of the Engine Grinders Association in Gboko, Benue; and students and staff at Mind City College in Saki, Oyo and Gwagwarwa Primary School in Nasarawa LGA, Kano were among those who attended the WADA enlightenment lecture. Additionally, the Ekiti State command of NDLEA paid a WADA advocacy visit to the Nigerian Correctional Service in Ado Ekiti, just as the Agency’s Anambra State command did the Speaker of the State House of Assembly.
While commending the officers and men of the Lagos, Nasarawa, Gombe, Kano, and Edo Commands for the arrests, seizures and their dexterity, Chairman/Chief Executive Officer of NDLEA, Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (Rtd), enjoined them and their colleagues across the country to continue with the ongoing balanced approach to the drug control efforts of the Agency.
