Suspected herders Destroy Large Portion of Cabbage Farm in Plateau

By Zagazola Makama

Troops of Operation Enduring Peace (OPEP) have confirmed the destruction of a large portion of a cabbage farm by persons suspected to be herders at Rakum village, Ropp District, Barkin Ladi Local Government Area of Plateau State.

Security sources told Zagazola Makama that the incident was reported at about 9:45 a.m. on Oct. 10, prompting troops of Sector 4, OPEP, to respond to the scene.

On arrival, the troops confirmed that the perpetrators had used a cutlass to cut down a large portion of the cabbage farm before fleeing the area.

The suspects had escaped before the arrival of the troops.

Efforts are ongoing to track down and apprehend the perpetrators for appropriate action.

The incident adds to concerns over the destruction of agricultural produce and the impact of criminal activities on farmers’ livelihoods in the affected area.

Suspected herders Destroy Large Portion of Cabbage Farm in Plateau

NDLEA Rearrests 83-Year-Old Woman for Drug Trafficking, Seizes 2.8 Tonnes of Cannabis

…South African Woman Arrested with 32.74kg Cannabis at PH Airport

By: Michael Mike

An 83-year-old woman previously convicted for drug trafficking has been arrested again with methamphetamine and Colorado, as the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) records major drug seizures across several states, including the arrest of a South African woman with 32.74 kilogrammes of cannabis at Port Harcourt airport.

The octogenarian, Uloma Uchechi Sunday, was arrested last Wednesday at her residence in Ite-Uzo, Umuaguma, Obingwa Local Government Area of Abia State, with quantities of methamphetamine and Colorado, a synthetic cannabinoid, allegedly tied around her waist with a wrapper.

The NDLEA spokesman, Femi Babafemi in a statement on Sunday said the octogenarian arrest followed intelligence indicating that she operated a drug joint allegedly patronised by criminal elements terrorising the community.

Sunday had previously been arrested on May 17, 2025, alongside her 32-year-old daughter, Chisom Uchechi, at the same residence. The agency said they were found with 50 grammes of methamphetamine, 522 grammes of skunk, 260 grammes of fresh cannabis leaves and 12 grammes of tramadol.

Both women pleaded guilty and were sentenced to 12 months’ imprisonment or a fine of N200,000 each. They paid the fines and were released.

According to the NDLEA, the older woman subsequently returned to the drug trade and allegedly established a drug joint at her residence.

In a separate operation, operatives of the agency, working with the Nigeria Customs Service, arrested a South African national, Gebashe Sithandiwe Jessie, at the Port Harcourt International Airport, Omagwa, Rivers State, with 30 parcels of Thai Loud, a cannabis strain weighing 32.74 kilogrammes.

The suspect, who arrived from Thailand through Doha aboard a Qatar Airways flight, allegedly concealed the drugs in two travelling bags. The agency said she admitted to previously trafficking drugs through other African countries and attempting to expand her route to Port Harcourt.

The arrests formed part of a series of interdiction operations in which the NDLEA recovered large consignments of illicit drugs at airports, along highways and in residential locations across Lagos, Taraba, Kano, Kaduna, Edo, Cross River, Ondo and Plateau states.

At the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos, operatives intercepted 354,000 tablets of tapentadol, each reportedly dosed at 250mg, weighing 307.2 kilogrammes.

The shipment, comprising nine cartons from Pakistan aboard a Royal Air Maroc flight, had been placed under surveillance after arriving on September 29. A joint examination last Tuesday uncovered the consignment.

In another operation at the airport, officers recovered 70 parcels of Colorado weighing 75.9 kilogrammes from six Ghana-Must-Go bags in a consolidated cargo shipment from the United Kingdom.

The agency said a clearing agent, John Edrah, 54, was arrested on September 30. Other suspects subsequently arrested were Taofiq Ajibola, 54, an Uber driver; Adetunji Adebayo; and Kazeem Dosunmu, 48, a clothing trader.

Ajibola allegedly disclosed that the drugs had been sent by a UK-based associate, Lukman Sa’idu, while Dosunmu reportedly identified another UK-based individual, Yusuf, as the source of his consignment.

In Cross River State, NDLEA operatives raided Iyala Nkun village in Ikom Local Government Area on October 4, arresting Adama Inuwa, 46, and recovering 181 bags of cannabis weighing 1,100 kilogrammes, alongside 17.15 kilogrammes of cannabis seeds.

In Edo State, officers intercepted a black Toyota Camry at Otuo, Owan East Local Government Area last Monday. The vehicle was allegedly conveying 1,049 blocks of compressed cannabis weighing 702.83 kilogrammes.

Three suspects — Monday Orji, 52; Monday Lawal, 40; and Precious Uduegele, 20 — were arrested in connection with the seizure.

Another suspect, Ojugo Mercy, 26, was arrested at Asoro, off Sakponba Road, Benin City, with 989 grammes of Loud, 13 grammes of Colorado and 83 grammes of methamphetamine.

In Ondo State, operatives traced 21-year-old Happy Endurance to a hideout in the Shasha area of Akure last Monday, recovering 29 bags of cannabis weighing 290 kilogrammes.

On the same day, another raid at an apartment in Oba-Ile, Akure, led to the arrest of Tunde Adebayo, 42, with 35 bags of cannabis weighing 351 kilogrammes.

In Taraba State, two suspects, Abdulrasheed Mohamed, 31, and Abubakar Saidu, 37, were arrested at Chanchanji village in Wukari Local Government Area last Friday, with 166,200 tablets of tramadol, each reportedly dosed at 225mg and weighing 107 kilogrammes.

A separate stop-and-search operation along the Kano-Maiduguri Road in Kano State on the same day led to the arrest of Yahaya Musa, 32, with 24,990 capsules of tramadol, 50,000 tablets of diazepam and 22,000 tablets of Exol-5.

In Kaduna State, operatives patrolling the Zaria-Kaduna Expressway arrested Mohammed Musa, 29, with 31 jumbo bags and 775 blocks of skunk weighing a combined 1,027 kilogrammes.

At Orile, Lagos, another suspect, Musbau Balogun Adekunle, was arrested last Tuesday with 32.51 kilogrammes of skunk and 52.65 kilogrammes of its seeds, bringing the total seizure to 85.16 kilogrammes.

Meanwhile, a raid on the residence of Christian Uju, 45, at Rukuba Road, Jos, Plateau State, last Thursday resulted in the recovery of methamphetamine, firearms and ammunition.

The agency said officers seized 47 grammes of methamphetamine, two pump-action rifles, one locally made gun, 199 live cartridges, five rounds of 7.62mm ammunition and one round of 9mm ammunition.

Beyond the seizures, the NDLEA said its commands and formations sustained public enlightenment campaigns under its War Against Drug Abuse initiative, targeting students, worshippers, workers and communities across the country.

The NDLEA Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Brig. Gen. Buba Marwa (retd.), commended officers and men of the Lagos, Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Port Harcourt International Airport, Taraba, Kano, Kaduna, Edo, Cross River, Ondo and Plateau commands for what he described as professional and intelligence-driven operations.

Marwa urged personnel nationwide to sustain the agency’s balanced approach to drug control, combining enforcement with preventive education and public sensitisation.

NDLEA Rearrests 83-Year-Old Woman for Drug Trafficking, Seizes 2.8 Tonnes of Cannabis

WAHO, Global Partners Seek Funding Framework for Lassa Fever Vaccine

By: Michael Mike

The West African Health Organisation (WAHO) and international health partners will meet in Berlin on Sunday to advance a collaborative financing framework for Lassa fever vaccine development, as efforts intensify to strengthen the region’s preparedness for epidemic threats.

The high-level roundtable, scheduled for October 11 on the sidelines of the World Health Summit, will explore funding commitments for vaccine research, late-stage clinical development, research readiness and regional manufacturing capacity.

The initiative comes amid persistent concerns over Lassa fever, a major public health threat in West Africa, and the limited commercial incentives for developing vaccines against epidemic diseases.

Convened by IAVI, MedAccess and the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI), the meeting is being organised with support from WAHO and the German development agency, Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ), with funding from Germany’s Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ).

The roundtable is expected to bring together regional and international partners to review progress on the proposed financing framework, clarify their respective roles and identify concrete next steps, including potential financial commitments.

WAHO said it would use the meeting to advance the priorities of member states of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), with emphasis on regional ownership, coordinated investment and sustainable financing for Lassa fever vaccine preparedness.

The organisation will be represented by its Director of Healthcare Services, Dr Virgil Lokossou, who is expected to highlight how investments in vaccine development could strengthen clinical research, laboratory capacity, disease surveillance, regulatory systems and regional preparedness for future epidemics.

The discussions build on the September 2025 ministerial roundtable in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire, convened by WAHO in collaboration with the governments of Côte d’Ivoire and Nigeria.

The meeting brought together health ministers or their representatives from 11 West African countries, culminating in a communiqué that supported the advancement of IAVI’s recombinant vesicular stomatitis virus (rVSV) Lassa fever vaccine candidate as a regional pathfinder.

The communiqué also committed participating countries to mobilising national, regional and international resources through a collaborative co-funding approach.

Building on the commitments, WAHO has led a regional Demand Forecasting Working Group to develop projections that could inform the vaccine investment case.

The projections draw on country consultations, expert interviews, key informant inputs and contributions from national Lassa fever task forces.

The proposed financing framework is expected to combine contributions from governments, philanthropic organisations and other financing partners to support the advancement of Lassa fever vaccines.

IAVI’s investigational rVSV Lassa fever vaccine candidate, supported by CEPI and the European and Developing Countries Clinical Trials Partnership (EDCTP), underscores the need for sustained investment in vaccine research alongside stronger regional clinical research and manufacturing capabilities.

Beyond Lassa fever, the partners believe the financing approach could provide a model for supporting the development of vaccines against other priority epidemic diseases.

The closed-door roundtable will hold from 4.30 p.m. to 6 p.m. Central European Summer Time at the Pullman Berlin Schweizerhof in Germany.

WAHO, Global Partners Seek Funding Framework for Lassa Fever Vaccine