The journey was risky, the environment hostile and the terrain inaccessible. For weeks, SINA FADARE was on the trails of cannabis farmers in the jungle of government forest reserves in the South West states. In this report, he observes that the battle of the National Drugs Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) against drug peddling is far from being won and the country, indeed, sits on a keg of gun powder.
Ogbese/Owo, Ogotun, Ikoyi and Olohunde villages in Ondo, Ekiti, Osun and Oyo states respectively have a lot in common. They are the havens of Indian hemp farmers in Nigeria. Immediately you enter any of these villages, the word ‘farmer’, which normally means somebody who produces food or cash crops like yam, beans, maize and cocoa, takes on a new meaning. In the aforementioned villages, the word ‘farmer’ mostly refers to Indian hemp growers.
Another feature of the areas is that government-owned forest reserves, which cut across all the states in the South-West (Ondo, Osun, Oyo, Ogun and Ekiti) pass through these villages and link up states like, Edo, Delta, Kwara, Kogi and Lagos. The proximity of the thick vegetation of the aforementioned places thus makes it a tempting field for hemp planters.
The environment has a thick vegetation, sloppy and undulating terrain and rich and fertile soil that has not been used for farming for many years due to lack of access points. The green vegetation oozes smoke from the hills when viewed with the binocular. Welcome to the cannabis empire.
The Nation investigation revealed that the most notorious sites for hemp cultivation in the country are found in Ipele, Ita-Ogbolu, Owo and Ogbese forest reserves in Ondo State; Ogotun, Ise-Orun, Ikogosi, Emure, Egbe and little Ose forest reserves in Ekiti State; Ikoyi, Orita Ijebu and Gbongan forest reserve in Ayedade Local Government Area of Osun State and Olohunde, Seriki and Gambari forest reserves in Oyo State.
In 2014 alone, The Nation gathered, hemp farmers in Osun State had pumper harvests that tasked the NDLEA to no end. The agency was said to have employed the services of a tractor to destroy about 57 hectares of cannabis farm in Ikoyi area of the state with a street value of about N6.8 billion.
The operation, which lasted for three days from October 9 to 12, involved all the arsenals of the NDLEA. A suspected drug baron, Godspower Chibogu, who allegedly funded the cultivation of the cannabis plantation, was traced to his private home in Ibadan, Oyo State, where he was apprehended and taken to the farm to witness its destruction.
Speaking on the major breakthrough, the then chairman of NDLEA, Ahmadu Giade, said the agency had to take the step in response to the growing magnitude of cannabis cultivation in the area.
He said: “This is the first time the NDLEA is engaging the service of a tractor in the destruction of cannabis farms. The farms are so large that it takes several days and weeks to destroy manually. Deploying heavy duty equipment to the farms makes the task simpler and faster.”
Similarly, the Orita Ijebu forest reserve in Ikoyi area of the state was also raided in 2016 by the NDLEA where 27 camps used as storage facilities for cannabis was located. The cannabis retrieved from this location was put at about N300 million.
The use of tractors for the destruction of such farms was not peculiar to Osun. The NDLEA in Oyo State took a similar step in 2016 when Gambari forest became a recurrent decimal in cannabis planting. About 27 hectares of cannabis plantations were destroyed with a street value of about N2.3 billion.
On how the menace was tackled, the agency’s commander, Mrs.Omolade Faboyede, said: “We have been monitoring the reserve and it was noticed that the planters were back to business. This prompted the bringing in of tractors to clear the expansive plantation. It will be a continuous exercise until the whole place is rid of cannabis plants.”
Speaking to this reporter on the volume of cannabis destroyed by the NDLEA between 2011 and 2015, the National Public Relations Officer of the agency, Mr. Mitchell Ofoyeju, said about 8,076.03 hectares of cannabis farms had been destroyed. The street value of this is going to about N963 billion. According to him, the agency was able to achieve this due to the doggedness and determination of its officials despite the numerous challenges it faces.
Call for national emergency
However, a Deputy Director in the NDLEA, who spoke to our reporter on condition of anonymity, said as laudable as the breakthrough of the agency may be, given the volume of unidentified cannabis farms, particularly in the South West of the country, and the volume that finds itself in the open market through the barons, it is better to declare a national emergency on the issue.
He said: “This is not a matter of exaggeration, because in some cases, particularly in Ondo and Ekiti states where the terrains are inaccessible, the quantity of weeds stored in various hidden locations aside the ones on various farms which poor funding has prevented the organisation from identifying, the country is sitting dangerously on a keg of gun powder.”
Worried by the high population of cannabis farmers in the South West, NDLEA’s chief executive, Col. Muhammad Abdallah (rtd), noted that “unless the current trend of cannabis cultivation is addressed, the country is on the verge of a devastating food security. It is worrisome that the cartels are using government forest reserves to cultivate cannabis.”
According to Food and Agriculture Organisations of the United Nations (FAO), between 2000 and 2005, Nigeria recorded the largest deforestation rate in the world, having lost 55.7 per cent of their primary forest. More worrisome, it noted, was the fact that close to 904,100 hectares of forest land had been lost.
The Nation gathered that Indian hemp farmers are among the culprits of deforestation. Thousands of forest reserves are destroyed to make way for their illicit venture. Cannabis is planted far away from the eagle eyes of law enforcement agencies.
Dynamics of hemp planting business in forest reserves
Papa Michael, as he was fondly called by neighbours and admirers in Ore, a town in Odigbo Local Government Area, Ondo State, was a famous hemp farmer. According to him, there was virtually nobody in the area who did not know him because of his popularity. He knew what it entailed to survive in cannabis farming.
According to him, for about 35 years, he had a beautiful romance with cannabis, which he usually calls weed. The gap toothed, petite innocent-looking man in his late 70s could not forget in a hurry his involvement in illegal cannabis business for several years. For this, he was detained in various police cells many times.
A native of Amuno, Kwale area of Delta State, before he relocated to Ogbese and later settled in Ore when he was barely 25 years old. “I came to Yoruba land through a friend when l could not make success of my transport business then. I used to work for a man in our area who had a large farm of hemp plantation. Each time he was in police or NDLEA net, I used to take charge of his farm,” he recalled.
Papa Michael, who said he never felt he was doing anything unusual, said: “Weed is a spiritual vegetable. I don’t know why you people are disturbing yourselves about it. That was the only business l did for about 35 years before age told me to stop. Twice l collapsed on the farm and my family, particularly my children, said enough was enough. That is why you see me now doing my vulcanizing job to make ends meet.”
Explaining why the business is done in forest reserves, the father of five children said: “My people are many here and l doubt if they can do any other job. All these areas (referring to Ondo, Ekiti, Osun and Oyo) have good soils that are very good for weed. If you get about 10 bags of weed from a hectare of land in my area (Delta), the same hectare of land will give you about 50 bags here. If you are the one, will you leave such a place?” he queried.
From Papa Michael’s explanation, it is easy to see why the South West is usually invaded by Indian hemp farmers from other parts of the country and would not leave in a hurry no matter the circumstances. The Nation investigation revealed that cannabis barons have integrated in the aforementioned states so much so that they have formed a syndicate that is very rich and ready to wage a serious war against any government agency that poses a threat to their illicit business.
It was gathered that in Ondo State, for instance, cannabis farmers have an association called Akunnubas, a name derived from Kwale language. There is an executive that runs the affairs of this association and pull resources together if need be to achieve its desired goal. Through this association, they map out their operational strategies on how to beat security agencies in transferring processed cannabis from the state to other parts of the country as well as for export.
Their operations are seriously coded for security reasons and they employ some members of a militant group as their own internal security. The militants on their pay roll are to gather information concerning the NDLEA and the police. The Nation gathered that they are effective in this job to the extent that they have percolated the security agencies such that their strategies at security meetings are divulged to the executive members who then take the necessary step for safe landing of their produce. Although this costs a lot of money, it is always jointly funded by all members of the association.
The Nation investigation revealed that this association also links up with others states in the South West while Akure, the capital of Ondo State, is the headquarters where all operational activities, including the control of cannabis price per bag, are dictated. In the same manner, the Akunubas link up with Delta State where most of the barons and financers come from to control the price and coordinate the market for the maximization of profit.
The Nation also gathered that resources are pulled together by the organisation to have a notable nursery where cannabis are initially planted and watered to maturity before it is transferred to a larger farm. Aside this, during harvest period, which normally takes up to two or three months depending on the size of the farm, the service of a chopper is usually engaged to drop food and drinks for the people on the farm because of the difficult terrain and to avoid the eagle eyes of security operatives
A bag of cannabis, according to investigation, sells for about N180,000. If a baron with a large farm is able to deliver all his harvest to the end user without any difficulty, he would be smiling to the bank with as much as N500 million.
Speaking with our correspondent in his office at Alagbaka area of Akure, NDLEA Commander, Alhaji. Mohammed Malami Sokoto, who confirmed the activities of Akunnubas, said they are an organised crime syndicate. According to him, recently the command arrested the body’s vice chairman (name withheld), who incidentally was the son of the soil.
“They are so organised that they use a pseudo name to avoid being nabbed, and the name was coined from Kwale language. Their chairman, who is now at large, is from Kwale, while his deputy is from Ondo State. We have charged him to court but he was released on bail. After his arrest, the group is now in disarray,” he said.
Sokoto explained that the organised crime is always coordinated and extremely coded. “It is an established, organised crime. The one who farms on the land and plants the cannabis sometimes does not really know the real owner. There is a middle man that runs errand between those that tilt the land and the farm manager and the owner of the cannabis. Each time you make an arrest on the farm, he cannot give you any useful information concerning the real owner of the farm.
Giving an insight into the operation of the cannabis business, the NDLEA boss said “There is usually a disconnect between the person farming on the land and the baron that owns it. The baron does not know those that are working on his farm and vice versa. The middle man is the farm manager who most of the time has no fixed address. All of them know the middle man, but it is difficult to nab him. We call them middle baron.
“The dynamics of it is that the middle man runs on proxy. He will just recruit men to work on the farm and disappear. They have an association they gave a pseudo name which nobody can identify. The funny thing is that those who actually own the business are not the people from the state, but some Kwale people from Delta State who have a link with the Omo onile(sons of the soil)”.
Explaining the challenges confronting the command in combating deadly drug barons, Sokoto explained that “there are environmental threats and poor logistics in accessing the farm. At times, it takes two days. There was a time we went for such an operation and by the time we are through, the bridge that we came through had been dismantled.
“Sometimes, to communicate with them is not possible. Operation is timely so we have to do a back-up team to avoid a calamity. It is in a jungle where telephone network is not feasible.”
Besides poor funding which is the major problem of NDLEA as an agency of government, the Ondo command headquarters was littered with heaps of cannabis. The seized vehicles in the compound and the three stores were filled to capacity. To this, Sokoto explained that there was about 100 tons of cannabis in their custody waiting to be destroyed as soon as the National Assembly approved it.
“There is the latest development concerning some of our seizures. Though we have a court injunction to destroy it, the National Assembly must give us the go ahead,” he said
Cannabis barons’ mode of operation
To beat the law enforcement agencies, a lot of organised strategies are employed by the barons to carry their produce to the end user. The Nation gathered that cannabis consignments are compressed, packaged like a book parcel and carried in a normal vehicle without anybody except a trained NDLEA official knowing what it is. This type of package is called ‘the bible’ in security circle.
Aside this, cannabis are tucked in specialised trunks with half of it opened on the roof and the produce is packed and then sealed up. This is later dismantled when it gets to its final destination.
While taking the reporter round to see some of the seizures made at the Ondo Command, the Assistant Commander in charge of operation and intelligence, who did not want his name in print, said a lot of methods are used by barons to deceive security agencies, including petrol tankers, ambulances, toilet cans, soft drink cartons and tipper lorries loaded with granite.
Papa Michael said packaging weed requires a lot of experience and networking. He said: “There are various methods the operators use, which l cannot tell you. But the fact is that once the weed is ready, it will definitely get to the end users. I can pack it like baby wear or like Okrika (second hand) clothes. My brother, it is brain work.”
Like any other business with its hazards, the barons may not always succeed in bribing their ways through the checkpoints. Such goods are confiscated by the NDLEA. At times, through intelligence gathering, the goods are seized at various warehouses. But such seizures are just a like a drop of water in the ocean compared to those that find their ways to the open market or outside the country.
The Nation also gathered that what makes the business of cannabis more complicated is that it has two end chains, meaning it can be exported and at the same time imported. According to an NDLEA source, the imported ones are using Nigeria as transit route to other destinations within and outside the country.
The reporter was shocked at Ogotun village in Ekiti when the son of a prominent cocoa farmer in the area said that during harvesting periods, the barons use chopper to drop food and evacuate finished products from the jungle.
A graduate of Economics who did not want his name in print said: “On numerous occasions when we go into the deep forest to hunt for games, we see choppers hovering in the air and dropping food for cannabis harvesters. Sometimes, they do that three times in a day,” he said.
Why government-owned forest reserves?
Speaking to The Nation in his office in Osogbo, Osun State, the Assistant Commander in charge of operations, Mr. Julius Dzer, noted that government forest reserves are the targets of cannabis farmers because of its numerous advantages to their illicit business.
According to him, “More than 95 per cent of the people planting cannabis in the South West are from Delta State. They have to come here because the land is fertile and friendly with the weed. If you take a modus of hemp seed and plant it in Delta, it will give you between 15 and 20 bags, while it will give you more than 50 bags here.
“Secondly, the land is fertile and the quality of the hemp produced is enhanced, far better than what you have in other areas. The best weather and soil that accommodate hemp is here in the South West. They take cover in the forest because it is wide and deep. This cannot be easily accessible to security agencies.”
Dzer, who has led various operations against the barons, pointed out that because of the difficult terrain which most of the forest reserves occupy, coupled with the fact that the land belongs to the government and nobody can lay serious claim to it except a few Omo Onile who are majorly settled, cannabis farmers seek solace in this jungle to perpetrate their crime.
Thinking along the same line, an NDLEA official who did not want his name in print, said that 90 per cent of the cannabis planted in the country and exported are cultivated in various forest reserves because the soils are not only fertile but far away from the prying eyes of security agencies.
He explained that most of the lands have not been used for farming at all. “As such, cannabis produced here is said to be one of the best in the world. Therefore, the barons may not be in a hurry to abandon such an environment unless they are rooted out by force.”
The Nation gathered that the barons also prefer the forest reserves because they (forest reserves) give them natural protection from the security agencies as it would take many months of operational planning and huge mobilisation before security agents can beat them to the game.
Sharing his experience during the destruction of 68 acres of cannabis farm at Gambari forest in Ibadan, Oyo State, on September 11, 2016, NDLEA Director of Operations and General Investigation, Mr. Mabo Olugbenga, who led the operation, noted that gaining access into the place was a huge challenge.
He said: “The team drove from Ibadan through several villages like Iki-Oke Alayo village, Idi Ayunre and several communities before getting to the forest. The bush paths were rough with streams and swampy areas making movement extremely difficult.”
Olugbenga, who described the place as an “evil forest”, explained that the cannabis farm which was worth millions of naira was discovered through intelligence reports.
Speaking in the same vein, an operation officer with the Ondo Command, who did not want his name in print, said the major headache of the agency was the inaccessible terrains where the cannabis plantations are located.
He said: “In one of our previous operations, we left the office in Akure around midnight and did not get to the jungle until 2 am. After our vehicles were packed because of the swampy terrain, we had to trek another three hours before we could get to the farm. We were virtually lost in the jungle because we could not communicate with our base any longer. For two days, we were more or less in the wilderness.”
