The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has arrested 61-year-old Alhaja Aishat Feyisara Ajoke Elediye, a notorious drug kingpin and Lagos socialite, in her Okota mansion on New Year’s Day.
The arrest followed the interception of a truckload of illicit drugs, including 1,540 kilograms of imported cannabis, by NDLEA operatives. The truck, driven by one of her associates, was intercepted that same day, leading authorities to storm her hideout at 33 Adebayo Oyewole Street in Okota, where she was apprehended.
Alhaja Ajoke, widely known in social circles, is also notorious in the drug underworld as “Iya Ruka.” For years, her true identity remained a mystery, with the NDLEA listing her as one of the most-wanted drug lords. She is suspected of leading a major drug cartel operating out of the Mushin area of Lagos.
While she portrays herself as a businesswoman involved in importing fabrics and shoes from China, she is also linked to a significant illicit drug trade. Ajoke is additionally recognized as the Iyalaje of Blessing Sisters, an influential women’s social club in Lagos.
In another major operation, NDLEA officers arrested filmmaker and motivational speaker Emeka Emmanuel Mbadiwe at his hotel room in Lekki on December 27, 2024. Mbadiwe’s arrest followed that of his partner, Uzoekwe Ugochukwu James, who was apprehended earlier that day at a warehouse in Ajao Estate, Ikeja, where he had been collecting 33 parcels of Loud, a potent strain of cannabis, concealed in wooden boxes. The drugs had arrived at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport from the United States on a Delta Airlines flight.
In Kwara State, NDLEA operatives on December 29, 2024, arrested 24-year-old fresh graduate Khadijat Abdulraheem and 20-year-old University of Ilorin student Ayomide Morakinyo for producing and selling drug-laced cupcakes to students in the Tanke area of Ilorin. During a search of their apartment, authorities recovered 42 drug-infused cupcakes.
Additionally, ex-convict Sodade Sunday Eniola, who was arrested in June 2024 for drug trafficking and sentenced to four years in prison, was apprehended again by NDLEA officers on December 30, 2024, for passport racketeering.
Eniola, along with three other suspects—Ayinde Saheed Awwal, Salaudeen Afeez Ayode, and Sheriff Adebayo Bamigbade—was involved in a syndicate that smuggled passports concealed in shoe soles and food items. They were arrested during a series of operations at the Lagos airport and subsequently handed over to the Nigerian Immigration Service for further investigation.
Meanwhile, NDLEA operatives at the Port Harcourt Ports Complex intercepted two containers on December 31, 2024, containing 316,800 bottles of codeine-based syrup. The seizure was part of a joint examination conducted with Nigeria Customs and other security agencies. In Kano, operatives recovered 149,090 pills of tramadol and Exol-5 from a local dealer on December 31, 2024.
In addition to these operations, the NDLEA continued its War Against Drug Abuse (WADA) sensitization efforts, holding educational sessions at markets, mosques, schools, and workplaces nationwide.
Commending the efforts of the agency’s officers across the country, NDLEA Chairman and CEO, Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (Rtd), praised the operational successes and highlighted the agency’s balanced approach to both drug supply reduction and drug demand reduction efforts.
