8 APC Presidential campaign council members along side thousands APC card carrying members decamp to PDP… AtikuO’clock

Desperate efforts to bring into Nigeria 126.95 kilograms of cocaine and skunk concealed in herbal tea packs and imported vehicles by drug cartels from Brazil and Canada have again been thwarted by operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA at the Akanu Ibiam International Airport, AIIA, Enugu and the Tincan seaport in Lagos.

At the Enugu airport, an Ethiopian Airline male passenger, Eze Christian Ikenna, 42, coming from Brazil via Addis Ababa, Ethiopia was intercepted on arrival at the airport at about 12:30pm on Friday 20th January. A search of his two bags revealed 19 big sachets which he claimed to contain herbal tea but were later found to be cocaine weighing 16.20 kilograms.

In the same vein, a joint examination carried out on a container marked TCLU 7799237 from Montreal, Canada at Sifax Okota Bonded Terminal by NDLEA operatives attached to Tincan Command of the Agency on Wednesday 18th January led to the discovery of 110.75kgs of cannabis Indica concealed in two of the four vehicles in the container: a 2011 Toyota Sienna and a 2011 Honda Pilot SUV.

Deliberate efforts to cut access to illicit opioids by the Agency again paid off on Tuesday when a consignment of Tramadol NDLEA operatives have been tracking for some months was eventually traced to a warehouse at Greenfield estate, Amuwo Odofin area of Lagos. When the store was opened, a total of One Million Six Hundred and Forty Five Thousand Five Hundred and Sixty (1,645,560) pills of Tramadol 100mg, 200mg and 225mg were recovered.

Another 60,000 pills of Tramadol 250mg were equally recovered from a wanted drug dealer, Diugwu Alphonsus in Bariga area of the state same day while raids carried out in Akala area of Mushin on Wednesday 18th and Friday 20th January led to the recovery of 781.7kgs of cannabis.

In Osun state, NDLEA officers on Friday 20th Jan. took into custody a blind 67-year-old grandpa, Aliyu Adebiyi, in whose house they found 234 kilograms of cannabis at Sokoto village, Owena Ijesa, Atakumosa East LGA. In his statement, he said a drug dealer kept the consignment with him for a fee of N6,000 per month and paid for three months upfront.

Similarly, a leper notorious for drug dealing, Haruna Abdullahi, 45, was arrested at Garko town, Kano on Thursday 19th Jan. while 2.2kgs of cannabis and various quantities of Diazepam and Exol were recovered from him.

No less than 370kgs of cannabis were recovered from a sawmill at Ilale, Owo in Ondo State when operatives stormed the industrial plant following credible intelligence. In Edo state, 261 kilograms of the illicit substance were seized from a suspect, Uche Monday at Uneme-Osu, Ososo Road in Akoko Edo area of the state with another 74kgs evacuated from a bush at Okpela fertiliser community in Etsako East LGA.

In Abuja, NDLEA operatives on Monday 16th January raided Lugbe area of the FCT based on credible intelligence that a dealer was operating in a batcher on the outskirt of the town. A search of the batcher led to the recovery of 42.9kgs cannabis, 15grams cocaine, 137grams Methamphetamine, and a cash of Two Million One Hundred and Forty Eight Thousand, Five Hundred Naira (N2,148,500) only, believed to be proceeds of the criminal trade.

While reacting to the seizures and arrests by the Lagos, AIIA, Tincan, Osun, Kano, Ondo, Edo and FCT Commands in the past week, Chairman/Chief Executive Officer of NDLEA, Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (Retd) CON, OFR, DSS commended all the officers involved in the operations and charged them and their compatriots across the country to remain steadfast and focused on winning the war against substance abuse and illicit drug trafficking in Nigeria.

Femi Babafemi
Director, Media & Advocacy
NDLEA Headquarters, Abuja
Sunday 22nd January 2023

Tigres Femenil beats Bayern Munich and is proclaimed champions of the Amazon Cup

Uchenna Kanu was in charge of the goal that gave Bayern Munich the title

By Rodrigo Solís
January 21, 2023 at 21:32 CST

The Tigres Femenil team continues to show that it is the best team in Liga MX Femenil, this time after beating Bayern Munich 1-0 in the dispute for the Amazon Cup.

Tigres Femenil achieved victory against Bayern Munich in the Amazon Cup thanks to the goal of Uchenna Kanu.

The duel between the Mexican team and the German team was held at the University Stadium where about 34,500 spectators attended.

The match was developed with several scoring opportunities for both squads, however they could not consolidate and with it the party was for the locals.

The show was guaranteed because it brought together the team of the second position of the women's Bundesliga, against the second team of the Liga MX Femenil.

This was the goal of Tigres Femenil with which they defeated Bayern Munich

The only goal of the match between Tigres Femenil and Bayern Munich came courtesy of Uchenna Kanu.

The felines' goal came in the 19th minute.

Lizbeth Ovalle cut down the left wing, to put a cross to the second post where Uchenna Kanu finished.

Tigres Femenil wins recognition from Bayern Munich

After the 1-0 victory of Tigres Femenil over Bayern Munich caused the coach of the German team, Alexander Straus, to highlight the work done by the Mexican team.

"Tigres is a team that is very well organized, I am impressed by what the team did, we struggled to organize," he said.

"We created chances, but we didn't score a goal, after having those opportunities, all the credit for Tigres," he said after the game.

Similarly, Alexander Straus recognized what the Tigres Femenil players showed: Mia Fishel, Uchenna Kanu and Lizbeth Ovalle.

The next match of Tigres Femenil will be on Tuesday, January 24 visiting Club Puebla in Matchday 3 of the Clausura 2023 of the Liga MX Femenil.

Malleri in Kwami LGA of Gombe State is an agrarian community located about 60 kilometres in the North Eastern part of Gombe town.

Our correspondent who visited the community reports the concerns of residents over incessant hippopotamus attacks on their farmlands.

A 60-year-old farmer, Abubakar Alhaji, alongside his children, was clearing his farm on the banks of the Dadin-Kowa River for dry season farming, hoping to recover the losses he recorded during the rainy season following floods that ravaged his farms.

He explained that as he was recovering from the flood losses, a bloat of hippos invaded his farms and destroyed the remnants of crops and other plantations that survived the floods.

He said, “We used to experience flooding occasionally on our farms, but last year’s was the worst. I suffered great losses on my five farms where I planted rice and sorghum from flooding and hippos.

“Hippos usually ravage our farms. The government has banned us from killing them. We see them destroying our crops but the government has warned us about killing or harming them.

“In the past, the hippos grazed in the night, but these days we see them in daylight roaming on our farms and destroying crops.”

On his part, Malam Sa’idu Mohammed (54), a vegetable farmer, said apart from the hippo attacks and floods, they lacked farm implements and inputs during dry season farming.

He said, “Apart from onion, pepper, tomato and other vegetables, I also plant beans. But last year, we didn’t get fertiliser and other farm inputs.

“Also, because of the sharp increase in the price of diesel, we couldn’t power our machines to water the farmlands. We had to abandon vegetable farming and plant beans which can easily grow near the river.

“But after struggling to plant the bean, floods and hippos destroyed our farms. Now, most of us don’t have food in our houses; being subsistence farmers.”

Malam Mohammed, therefore, said, “We are really in need of help to be able to feed our families and attend to our other needs.”

When our reporter met Malam Babawuro Magaji (53) on his farm on the outskirts of Malleri, he said he was into rice, watermelon, guinea-corn and maize farming.

He said, “We are used to flash floods, but last year it consumed farmlands in high-rise areas that we never expected it would reach. A lot of farms were destroyed after people spent huge sums of money cultivating them.

“We need government’s assistance to be able to be on our feet again because we lost all our investments on the farms to the flood.”

He, however, noted that: “Our other problem is hippos, and the only option is for us to stay on the farms to protect them and prevent the animals from trespassing and destroying our crops.”

The Chairman of the Malleri Rice Farmers Association (MRFA), Alhaji Sarki, complained that the hippos last year destroyed several hectares of rice in Malleri and neighbouring villages.

He said, “The hippos destroyed my farms. We planted rice hoping to recover the losses we recorded from the floods but the hippos invaded in the night and finished everything.”

Sarki explained that they encircled their farmlands with prickles and thorns as a temporary measure to prevent the hippos from crossing into the farmlands.

He said, “The fear of attacks from the hippos is what delayed us from planting the rice. They now invade the farms even in the afternoon. I have lost over three hectares.

“After the rains subsided, I planted again, yet the hippos destroyed it too. I lost my investment in three farms worth over N300,000.

“I also planted wheat but when it started to flourish, the hippos came in the night and consumed all the plants.

“As you can see them (pointing to the bloat of hippos in the river); they are waiting for us to leave the farms and they will come out and invade and destroy our crops.

“So, in addition to money spent to get good seedlings, fertiliser and other farm implements. Now, we have to engage the services of vigilantes to protect the farms.”

Sarki decried that the government had failed to protect them from the frequent hippo attacks.

Another farmer, Uzairu Ali (30), said, “We now pay vigilantes daily to protect our farms. We are paying at least N1,000 on each farm daily. We don’t have an option but to pay because one problem with the hippos is that even if they don’t eat anything on the farms, by merely passing through them they destroy whatever is planted.

“The hippo attacks were more severe last year because of the flood. Because the river was flooded the hippos were left with no option than to cross over to our farms in search of food. So, in broad daylight the hippos invaded the farms.”

He noted that were it not for the hippos, they could have recovered the losses they recorded from the flood.

He said, “Even though we suffered losses during the rainy season because of the flooding, had it been there was no threat of the hippos, we could have recovered the losses. The hippos’ threat is big and we fear greater losses are looming if adequate care is not taken.”

Ali, therefore, appealed for assistance from the government to engage the services of rangers to protect their farms.

Govt to establish hippo colony

When contacted, Ismaila Uba Misilli, Director General of Press Affairs to Governor Muhammadu Inuwa Yahaya, said the state government was aware and working to address the hippo issue in Malleri village and other communities along the Dadin-Kowa River in Funakaye, Kwami and Yamaltu/Deba LGAs.

He said although the affected farmlands were under the purview of the Upper Benue River Basin Development Authority (UBRBDA), the state government was ready to address any issue affecting indigenes and other residents of the state.

Misilli said, “We have taken conscious steps towards finding a lasting solution to this issue to ensure that humans and hippos cohabit peacefully.

“Because the hippopotamus are endangered species, officials of the state government in May, 2022, met with Dr Lynne Baker, a United States-based conservation biologist and some Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) on how to establish a hippopotamus colony in the state.”

Operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA, have unraveled a cluster of cannabis syndicates operating in the Opuje forests in Edo state where massive warehouses and tents storing over 317,417 kilograms (317.4 metric tons) of the psychoactive substance were destroyed and set ablaze in a two-day operation, IGBERETV reports.

In a statement released, the spokesperson of the antidrug agency, Femi Babafemi, said a suspect, Omoruan Theophilus, 37, who parades himself as a Police Inspector to convey the drugs from the forests to the cities and three others identified as Aigberuan Jacob, 42; Ekeinde Anthony Zaza, 53, and Naomi Patience Ohiewere, 42, were arrested in connection with the drugs.

"The Opuje community in Owan West Local Government Area, Edo State, is notorious for cannabis cultivation, where the cartels invest huge resources, cutting down economic trees of the forest reserves and cultivating cannabis on a large scale, running into hundreds of hectares.

After harvest, they build warehouses inside the forest reserves and employ the services of armed youths to protect the warehouses 24/7.

Accessing the forest on Wednesday 18th January took hours of trekking by hundreds of NDLEA operatives who were ambushed with bonfire by armed youths on their way out of the community the following day but were able to successfully leave the area without any casualty except the heavy investment losses inflicted on the cartels".

Also, the Agency on Thursday January 19th acted on intelligence received from the Drug Enforcement Administration of the United States and busted a criminal syndicate involved in the trafficking of fake USD currency in Lagos.

"During a combined operation carried out by NDLEA operatives with their EFCC colleagues, a total of $269,000 counterfeit US dollars were recovered from the syndicate at Oniru Shoprite area of Lekki, Lagos, where three suspects were arrested" he stated

The agency directed that the fake dollars recovered and suspects arrested in the Lekki operation be immediately transferred to the EFCC for possible prosecution.

watch as 21 year old son of Abia state governor arrive an occasion in a convoy with full complement of police escort.