By Damilare Adeleye
Operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) have arrested 93-year-old great grandpa and a 69-year-old medical doctor in separate intelligence-led interdiction operations across the country.
It was learnt that the nonagenarian, Pa Friday Ahukanna Chigbu, was arrested at his home in Umuagbaigba, Amavo Nkwogu village, Osisioma local government area of Abia state on Tuesday 7th April 2026.
According to a statement released on Sunday by the NDLEA Director of Media and Advocacy, Femi Babafemi, 7.7 kilograms of skunk, a strain of cannabis, were recovered following a search of the suspect’s residence.
“The suspect claimed he had worked as a truck pusher but later learnt painting and tiling before going into the illicit drug business over a year ago. He claimed he had been smoking skunk since 1959 before turning it into business,” the NDLEA spokesperson disclosed.
Similarly, a 41-year-old Ivorian, Gohouri Michael, was nabbed at the Mallam Aminu Kano International Airport, Kano with 82 wraps of cocaine weighing 1.49kg.
This was just as the NDLEA personnel also arrested a 69-year-old medical doctor, Dr. Chudi Daniel Ofomata in a subsequent follow-up operation in Ogun state.
“Michael Gohouri (also known as Anunwa Onyinye Michael) was arrested on Monday 16th February 2026 during the outward clearance of passengers on Ethiopian Airlines flight ET940 to Milan, Malpensa via Addis Ababa,” Babafemi stated.
“Gohouri had arrived Lagos from Milan, Italy on 17th January, 2026 and was shuttling from Lagos to Enugu for three weeks. He later travelled to Kano where he stayed for a week before ingesting the cocaine consignment in his hotel room. He’s expected to be paid 5,000 Euros when he delivers the drugs in Milan.”
NDLEA spokesperson added that investigation revealed that Gohouri had a shadowy figure behind the scene, giving him instructions on how to move the cocaine consignment through the airport.
“The hidden figure behind Gohouri was eventually discovered to be Dr. Chudi Daniel Ofomata who was later tracked and traced to his residence at Teachers’ Land estate, Magboro, Obafemi Owode LGA, Ogun state where he was arrested on 27th March 2026 and flown to Kano on Tuesday 7th April.”
According to Babafemi, items recovered from the suspect at the point of his arrest included 63grams of promazepam and 7 ampoules of promethazine injection.