Three people, including a religious leader, have been detained by the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency for attempting to ship drugs to the United Arab Emirates through the NAHCO export shed at Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Ikeja, Lagos.
In a statement on Sunday, the NDLEA’s spokesman, Femi Babafemi, said that High Priest Nnodu Azuka, the founder and General Overseer of the Seraphic and Sabbath Assembly in Lagos; Udezuka Udoka, a student at Emmanuel College of Theology in Samoda, Ibadan, and Oyoyo Obasi, their freight agent.
The statement says that Obasi and Udoka, who were nabbed earlier on Thursday, February 9 at the Lagos airport in connection with the seizure of 283 parcels of skunk weighing 14.90 kilograms and 204 grams of methamphetamine, linked Nnodu to the drugs. Nnodu was arrested on Saturday, February 11 at his church in the Ijesha area of Lagos.
Four 25-liter palm oil kegs allegedly contained the drugs for export to Dubai.
The spokesperson for the NDLEA said that Obasi indicted Nnodu and his son, Chisom Obi, who is still at large, as the people who gave her the drugs. Obasi said that she just started attending Nnodu’s church.
She also claimed that she was made to swear secrecy and offer a chicken as a sacrifice in the church while High Priest Nnodu prayed for the transaction’s success.
“Spilling the beans on how she was recruited by her church’s GO, Obasi said the clergyman and his son used threats to compel her to take the job after they knew she had known their secrets, adding that Nnodu was always referring to the illicit drugs as Ice and Bible, (street names for methamphetamine and cannabis) in their telephone text message chats,” the statement read.
“Because Udezuka was new to the illegal business, the theology student was introduced to Obasi to help her. Udezuka claimed that he had to perform the role because he needed the money for his education and that he was paid N2 million for it.