from OKORO CHINEDU in Lagos, Nigeria
Nigeria Bureau
LAGOS, (CAJ News) – NIGERIAN authorities have unearthed syndicates dealing with the dangerous fentanyl, a drug that has earned notoriety in the United States (US).
And a local church is at the centre of the scandal!
Said to be 100 times more potent than heroin, fentanyl is currently responsible for over 70 percent overdose deaths as well as a major contributor to fatal and nonfatal overdoses in the US. It is an opioid, pain relieving drug.
This past weekend, two church members of the Christ Mercyland Deliverance Ministries and two other women accomplices were arrested during a crackdown by operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) in the southern state of Delta.
The church members have been named as Adewale Abayomi Ayeni (aged39), and Ebipakebina Appeal (41), linked to two intercepted consignments of the illicit drug.
NDLEA reports that Ayeni is one of those managing the prayer call centre of the church in Warri. Ebipakebina is allegedly in charge of the movement of international guests from the local airport to the disgraced church.
It is believed the drug is peddled through such movements.
Two female accomplices also arrested in Warri in the course of investigations are Naomi David (28) allegedly a staff of the United Parcel Services courier company, and Stacy Njidek (27) said to be a business associate of Ayeni.
The bust of the fentanyl cartel comes barely a month after two members of another syndicate were arrested at a market in the southeastern state of Anambra.
NDLEA said the arrests follow months of intelligence-led investigation of the syndicates behind the dangerous drug.
Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (Retd), Chairman/Chief Executive Officer of the agency, commended the officers for the arrests and seizures.
“He charged them and their compatriots across the country to continue to set their eyes on the goal of ridding the nation of substance abuse and illicit drug trafficking,” agency spokesperson, Femi Babafemi, said.
While the officials could not be reached for comment, the Christ Mercyland Deliverance Ministry, stated that it is also known as Arena of Solution and Power, it is “an end time deliverance and prophetic ministry.”
“Our mission is to spread abroad the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, to proclaim liberty to the captives… Demonstrating the power of God in the end time to all nations.”
“Prophet” Jeremiah Omoto Fufeyin leads the church.
According to information, he was born in the Buruti area of Warri in February 1972.
A married father of five children, the church reveals he was born in a polygamous home and is the 22nd child out of 36 children.
He is fondly called Papa, The Tireless General or The Dancing Prophet.
“The prophet is a man of many gifts and he uses them to bless the people whom God has given to him,” the church states.
Fufeyin is also hailed as “a father to many, spiritual father to minister of the gospel, a philanthropist, a lover of people and a lover of God.
He is called to give solutions to the people, to deliver nations from bondage and the yoke that Satan has put God’s children under.
“Like Jesus, he is moved with great compassion and he never fails to speak into the lives of his children.”
Meanwhile, operatives made other breakthroughs against dealers of other drugs last week.
Kelvin Efe (51) and Christian Ogaga (42) were arrested after their car was intercepted in northeastern Adamawa.
Some 118 cartoons of noodle packs used to conceal 544 blocks of compressed cannabis sativa, weighing 408kg, were found.
In the commercial Lagos, NDLEA operatives arrested a suspect, Segun Odeyemi, allegedly conveying 89 bags of skunk with a total weight of 3 842kg in a truck.
Southwest in Osun, officers discovered an abandoned vehicle with bags of fresh pepper used to conceal 25 bags of cannabis sativa weighing over 300kg.
– CAJ News