NDLEA: How Elderly Are Fueling Nigeria’s Drug Crisis

In a startling twist to Nigeria’s persistent drug trafficking crisis, the latest crackdown by the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has unearthed an unexpected demographic driving the illicit trade; the elderly.

Among those arrested in a nationwide raid were two octogenarians: 80-year-old Ayuba Ashiru and 82-year-old Uloma Uchechi Sunday, alongside her 32-year-old daughter, Chisom Uchechi.

Their stories, deeply rooted in intergenerational narcotics operations and decades-long criminal persistence, signal a disturbing shift in the dynamics of the drug underworld.

For Ayuba Ashiru, drug trafficking isn’t just a crime, it’s a career. Having spent ten years behind bars from 2014 to 2024 for previous drug offenses, the octogenarian was arrested again on May 14, 2025, in Sabon Gari LGA, Kaduna State. Found with 2.3 kilograms of skunk packaged for retail, Ayuba admitted to being in the trade for 46 years, nearly a lifetime.

This arrest underlines a critical flaw in Nigeria’s correctional system: its failure to reform high-risk repeat offenders, especially within vulnerable, aging populations. Ashiru’s case reveals how incarceration alone may not be enough when deep-seated criminal identity has become a way of life.

Meanwhile, in Umuaguma Ntigha Uzor village, Abia State, NDLEA operatives arrested Uloma Uchechi Sunday and her daughter, Chisom. Their home was a mini-drug hub stocked with methamphetamine, tramadol, and skunk, alongside #130,600 in cash.

Uloma confessed that the family enterprise began with her late son and was taken over by her and Chisom after his death. This succession points to a rare, troubling trend: the inheritance of criminal trade as family legacy. It exposes a loophole in the War Against Drug Abuse (WADA),  the lack of sustained community-based rehabilitation and family-focused intervention programs in rural and semi-urban areas.

Beyond individual arrests, NDLEA’s operations at Nigeria’s seaports underscore the scale of the drug economy. At Port Harcourt Port Complex, Onne, 3 million pills of tapentadol and carisoprodol,  worth #2.1 billion were seized. In Apapa, Lagos, 169,800 bottles of codeine syrup valued at #1.1 billion were discovered hidden among car parts from India.

These seizures highlight Nigeria’s continued vulnerability to international drug syndicates exploiting weak cargo scrutiny, porous borders, and bribable logistics corridors. Despite improved intelligence and collaboration with customs and other security agencies, the sheer volume of intercepted drugs shows how much more remains undetected.

In Ilorin, a 20-something Polytechnic student was arrested with “Loud,” a potent cannabis strain measured in 149 cups for resale. His case, like that of other youthful suspects arrested across Kwara, Niger, Lagos, and Jigawa,  underscores a growing hybrid of youthful energy and aged experience driving the drug trade.

Perhaps the most alarming intersection occurred on the Abuja-Kaduna highway, where NDLEA arrested a 29-year-old man, Ismail Isah, with an AK-47 and two magazines hidden in a sack of maize. The line between drug trade and armed crime is thinning dangerously, a reminder that these operations are no longer isolated criminal acts but integral to broader insecurity in the country.

Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (Rtd), NDLEA Chairman, commended officers nationwide for their efforts in supply reduction and education-based demand reduction, such as school sensitization programs in Kano, Kaduna, Osun, and Rivers States.

However, as the agency battles on both ends of the drug chain, from schoolyards to senior citizens, experts warn that without targeted psychological, social, and economic support systems, elderly recidivists like Ayuba and matriarch-led cartels like Uloma’s could become templates rather than anomalies.

In a country where age is expected to bring wisdom, these arrests are a grim reminder: in the absence of opportunity, even longevity can serve crime.

For more exclusive coverage on security and community issues, visit [fasnewsng.com](https://fasnewsng.com)

By Fikunmi Sokoya