By Michael Olugbode
A former Vice Chairman of Lagos Island East Local Council Development Area (LCDA), Asekun Kehinde Sakiru, has been arrested by operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Ikeja, Lagos.
Asekun, according to a statement issued yesterday by the NDLEA’s spokesman, Femi Babafemi, is a notorious drug baron, and has been on the wanted list of the agency.
The former council vice chairman was on the agency’s blacklist following the recent arrest of some traffickers and drug seizures linked to him.
According to Babafemi, the long arm of the law caught up with the wanted baron at about 9.40p.m. on May 7, 2021, while trying to board a Virgin Atlantic airline flight to London, United Kingdom, at the Lagos airport.
He said at the point of Asekun’s arrest, he was caught with a kilogramme of cocaine concealed in five pairs of palm slippers packed inside his suitcase.
The spokesman further revealed that Asekun has been on the wanted list of the MMIA Command of the agency in connection to a case involving one Azeez Adeniyi Ibrahim, who was arrested with 6.45 kilogrammes of cocaine in December 2020.
Babafemi said during preliminary investigation, it was gathered that the London-based baron is a seasoned politician, and at different times between 2004 and 2014 was the vice chairman of Lagos Island East LCDA.
He had also contested and lost elections for the House of Representatives in 2007 and Lagos State House of Assembly in 2015.
Babafemi said Asekun, although claimed to be an international businessman that deals in automobiles, investigation is yet to confirm what has been the suspect’s source of wealth.
He disclosed that the sum of N131 million and N14 million was found in two of his accounts during tracking, but that the account has been blocked.
Meanwhile, the Chairman/Chief Executive of NDLEA, Brig. Gen. Buba Marwa (rtd), has commended the officers and men of the MMIA Command of the agency for their resilience and dedication to duty, noting that with the support of all stakeholders, the problem of drug trafficking and abuse in Nigeria will be drastically reduced very soon.
He said: “This arrest is yet another message and red alert to those still in this criminal trade, whether as barons or traffickers, that they will soon enter the dragnet of the agency, daily being spread across the country, if they fail to back out, especially now that we are moving all out for the barons and the big cartels, as we continue to reign in the traffickers.”
