Ex-Boko Haram Fighter, Traditional Ruler Arrested For Drug Trafficking

A rehabilitated ex-fighter of the Boko Haram terror group, Alayi Madu, and the traditional ruler of Kajola, a border community between Ondo and Edo state, Baale Akinola Adebayo are among the 37 persons arrested over 2.2 tons of illicit drugs seized by operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, MMIA Ikeja, Lagos and in raids across 12 states in the past week.

A statement released by the spokesperson of the anti-graft agency, Femi Babafemi, says as part of ongoing operations to mop up illicit drugs across the country ahead of the next round of elections, NDLEA officers in the early hours of Friday, March 10th, stormed Kajola forest in Kajola community, a border town between Edo and Ondo state where they destroyed three cannabis farms measuring 39.801546 hectares. The owner of the farms who claims to be the Ba’ale of Kajola, Akinola Adebayo, 35, was arrested on the farm at 2:30 am, while two other suspects believed to be his workers: Arikuyeri Abdulrahman, 23, and Habibu Ologun, 25, were also nabbed in a hut near the farms.

In the same vein, a 26-year-old Alayi Madu, who was a Boko Haram fighter for 15 years before he surrendered to the Nigerian military in 2021 was intercepted by NDLEA operatives on Thursday 9th March along Abuja-Kaduna express road with 10 kilograms of skunk, which he said he bought in Ibadan, Oyo state and was taking the consignment concealed in a sack to Maiduguri, Borno state.

In his statement, Madu said he is from Banki town, Borno State, and joined the notorious terrorist organization, in 2006 when he was nine years old. He said he repented and surrendered to the military in 2021, after which he underwent rehabilitation and de-radicalization processes at Umaru Shehu rehabilitation center, Maiduguri, and Malam Sidi de-radicalization center, Gombe before he was discharged after spending six months. Thereafter, he traveled to Ibadan, Oyo state where he worked as a commercial motorcycle rider (Okada rider) before going into drug trafficking and his eventual arrest along Abuja-Kaduna express road.