NDLEA Arrests Prominent Nollywood Filmmaker and Another Drug Kingpin in New Year Raids.
The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has started the year with a series of high-profile arrests and drug seizures across Lagos, Kwara, Kano, and Rivers states.
This information was disclosed in a statement by the agency’s Director of Media and Advocacy, Femi Babafemi, on Sunday.
On January 1, 2025, NDLEA operatives arrested 61-year-old Alhaja Aishat Feyisara Ajoke Elediye, known as “Iya Ruka,” at her mansion in Okota, Lagos.
She had been on the agency’s wanted list for leading a major drug cartel in the Mushin area. Her arrest followed the interception of a truck carrying 1,540 kilograms of cannabis, which was driven by her staff member, Abideen Adio.
Alhaja Ajoke had posed as a businesswoman importing fabrics and shoes and was also a socialite and leader of a women’s club in Lagos.
The statement reported, “Operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) began the new year with the arrest of a wanted drug kingpin and Lagos socialite, 61-year-old Alhaja Aishat Feyisara Ajoke Elediye, on Wednesday, January 1, 2025, at her mansion in Okota, Lagos, following the interception of a truckload of illicit drugs by her staff on the same day. Known in the drug underworld as ‘Iya Ruka,’ Alhaja Ajoke, as she is affectionately called in social circles, had her true identity shrouded in mystery for years while remaining on the NDLEA’s wanted list for leading a drug cartel operating from the Mushin area of Lagos.”
Her cover was blown on January 1, when NDLEA operatives, acting on intelligence, intercepted a white Isuzu truck carrying 44 jumbo sacks containing 1,540 kilograms of imported cannabis, driven by Abideen Adio.
The operatives then stormed her hideout at 33 Adebayo Oyewole Street, off Ago Palace Way, Okota, where they arrested her. On the surface, Alhaja Ajoke presented herself as a businesswoman importing fabrics and shoes from China, but beneath that facade lay a vast illicit drug trade. She is also recognized as the Iyalaje of Blessing Sisters, an influential club of society women in Lagos.
In a separate operation on December 27, 2024, US-trained filmmaker and motivational speaker Emeka Emmanuel Mbadiwe was arrested in a Lagos hotel.
His associate, Uzoekwe Ugochukwu James, had been apprehended earlier with 33 parcels of “Loud” cannabis, weighing 17.30 kilograms, concealed in wooden boxes sent from the United States.
The statement also noted, “In another significant operation, NDLEA officers on Friday, December 27, 2024, arrested US-trained Hollywood and Nollywood filmmaker Emeka Emmanuel Mbadiwe, who is also a motivational speaker, at his hotel room in Lekki following the earlier arrest of his partner, Uzoekwe Ugochukwu James, at a warehouse in Ajao Estate, Ikeja.
James had been sent by Mbadiwe to collect a shipment of 33 parcels of Loud, a potent strain of cannabis weighing 17.30 kilograms, which had arrived at the Import Shed of the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA) Ikeja on December 24, 2024, concealed in large wooden boxes.”
In Ilorin, NDLEA operatives arrested 24-year-old Khadijat Abdulraheem and 20-year-old Ayomide Morakinyo on December 29, 2024, for producing and selling drug-laced cupcakes to students. A search of their apartment uncovered 42 drug-laced cakes.
The statement added, “In Kwara State, fresh graduate Khadijat Abdulraheem, 24, and 20-year-old student Ayomide Morakinyo of the University of Ilorin were arrested on December 29, 2024, by NDLEA operatives at Tanke-University of Ilorin Road, Oke Odo, Ilorin, following credible intelligence that they were producing and selling drug-laced cupcakes to students in the community. When their apartment was searched, 42 pieces of drugged cakes were recovered.”
