Drugs: Sad End To A True Life Story

“My name is Jane. I used to be a student of Covenant University. We lived in a highbrow area and travel every year to the United States for summer holiday with my mom and two younger siblings. I got almost all I wanted just at the snap of the finger. My dad was a ‘successful businessman’ an importer of variety of goods. 

I and my younger ones lacked nothing. In fact, we were lavishly taken care of and of course were envied by many folks. I had a driver  assigned to take me anywhere I wanted to go to with any car of my choice since there were more than five classy cars at the garage. Life was so sweet and full of fun until that fateful day, a day I will never forget in my entire life.

It was at about 3:20 a.m, a very loud bang at the gate woke me from sleep. I heard them order the security guard to open the gate. While he was still questioning thier identity, two of them gained entry into the compound through the fence, identified themselves to the guard, collected the keys from him and opened the gate for others to come in.

At this point, with a loud voice announced that they were NDLEA officers and had warrant to search the house, and that it was better my dad complied. The search lasted for close to an hour. They took the items they found which they said were illicit drugs and arrested my dad.  I never knew my dad dealt in drugs and that was the beginning of our woes. 

To cut the whole story short my dad spent four years in jail. While he was at the NDLEA custody, three of the cars and  five of his houses and several businesses linked to him were confiscated as the proceeds from illicit drug business.

My mom did her best to secure his release on bail, she sold the remaining cars but it was to no avail. Life became very difficult for us. We had to be withdrawn from a private university to a state university. To make ends meet, my mom sold the house we lived in and got us relocated to a rented apartment in a low cost area. Friends and family deserted us.

My dad was finally sentenced to four years in jail without an option of fine, the cars, houses and his other businesses were forfeited to the federal govt. The sentence added to the many twist we already had.

Life even became tougher. I had to drop out of school to help in the business of my mom whose ill health caused by my dad’s jail sentence was deteriorating. We suffered hardship like it is our birthright. My dad finished his jail term, returned home, tendered a heartfelt apology to us for the difficulties we had endured occasioned by his illegal business. He vowed never to engage in any form of illegality again. “

This is a true story of a young girl whose dad was a drug trafficker. With the recent

onslaught by the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency ( NDLEA) across the states of the federation under the leadership of Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa Retd, drug barons and traffickers are not spared, no safe haven for them.  The same fate that befell Jane is bound to befall them and their families if they fail to  desist from this illicit trade. 

It is on record, going by the recent press release by the NDLEA, that  arrest and seizure of series of drugs were made this past week across the states. Among such arrests is  the arrest of the Ba’ale of Kojola community (a border town between Edo and Ondo) Akintola Adebayo and two of his workers in his cannabis farm measuring 39.801546 hectare which was subsequently destroyed by the operatives of the NDLEA.

Also, at the Lagos airport in Ikeja, NDLEA operatives intercepted a consignment of 11.90kg of heroin and 500grammes of skunk concealed in deep freezer which were part of cargo that arrived from South Africa.

The report also have it that one Hope Iniobong David was arrested with bags of cannabis sativa weighing 1.112kg (1.1tons) in her house at Ediene Abak in Abak LGA, Akwa Ibom, while it’s operatives in Kogi State recovered 25 cartons containing 50000 ampoules pantazocine injection weighing 200kg. 

This is just to mention a few as contained in the report. One can only imagine the huge amount of money these suspect would have made, if they were successful in the illicit business. 

It is a business that has this “quick rich syndrome” because of its lucrativeness. But once the trafficker is arrested, all the ill gotten wealth and proceeds will be gone 

Drug trafficking and abuse is a twin monster that does good to no one. With the continued disruption and dismantling of drug networks by the Marwa led NDLEA, the long arm of the law will soon catch up with the remaining die-hard drug dealers not withstanding their level of sophistication in this deadly activities. 

Ijeoma Okeme writes from Ejigbo area of Lagos state

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