Posted by By TUNDE RAHEEM Akure on
Ogbese is a town under Akure North Local Government area of Ondo State, with a relatively small population. But, the name Ogbese is always synonymous with cannabis business. In short, it is a town that is notorious for Indian hemp cultivation and consumption.
Ogbese is a town under Akure North Local Government area of Ondo State, with a relatively small population. But, the name Ogbese is always synonymous with cannabis business. In short, it is a town that is notorious for Indian hemp cultivation and consumption.
The town, which is a five- kilometer drive from Akure, the state capital, has the largest record of Indian hemp deal. Statistics from the office of the state National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), showed that the activities of India hemp distributors; farmers and consumers were on the high side.
In Ogbese, Indian hemp is sold like bread in public places. All efforts to get rid of the activities of miscreants and Indian hemp merchants in the area have proved abortive as the men of the state NDLEA could not make any progress due to the militant nature of the youths in the area who are always armed with dangerous weapons like cutlasses, guns and axes.
At a time, the State Commander of the NDLEA, Shadow Gaura, contemplated seeking the assistance of military personnel to combat the notorious Ogbese youths.
The efforts of the NDLEA paid off recently when they stormed the notorious Ogbese town. The team led by Mr. Okon Ulo, attacked the Indian hemp dealers, but they were restricted by the irate youths who almost mobbed the anti drug agency's officers. For hours, gunshots boomed for several hours as both camps fired at each other.
The Ogbese youths, however, took to their heels when they realized that the NDLEA team meant business. The raid led to the seizure of over 1.5tonnes of cannabis. The NDLEA boss, Gaura, said: 'The mob was too much on my men, they encountered a lot of opposition at Ogbese because people in that area came out with cutlasses and guns.'
The NDLEA command did not stop at that, as it also carried out more raids on Ogbese. This time around, Gaura said the youths did not attempt to foil their attack. He said they were able to seize 1 tonne of Indian hemp during the second raid, while 250kilogrammes of Indian hemp was seized during the third raid.
Gaura, who was the Assistant Director of Operations at the NDLEA headquarters before his posting to Akure, added that his men at Ogbese destroyed about five hectares of cannabis plantation. 'We are happy that we have been able to reduce the activities of Indian hemp merchants in Ogbese. We are also planning to invade Ogbese in a couple of weeks. We will not relent until we reduce the consumption and distribution level in the area'
He observed that the influx of cultivators from neigbouring Delta and Edo states was responsible for the high prevalence of cannabis in Ondo State, adding that the soil in the state is very fertile for the cultivation of cannabis. According to him, traditional rulers and community leaders have major role to play in making sure that cultivators from neigbouring states were not given land to carry out their nefarious activities.
The NDLEA boss also appealed to Nigerians to embark on massive planting of cash crops like cocoa, which he said was very lucrative because of its demand at the international market as alternative to planting cannabis. He stressed further that about 78 people had been arrested with 21,000 kilogrammes of cannabis in the state in the last five months, out of which 70 per cent were currently facing trial in law courts.
Gaura said a woman, Prisca Mbachu, was apprehended by his men at Ijoka. According to him, Prisca was the owner of the two rooms used for the storage of cannabis. The woman according to Gaura was taken to the NDLEA office at Alagbaka where she confessed that three persons were the owners of the cannabis.
Based on her confession, the NDLEA was able to arrest two of the suspects. They are Monday George and Abraham Joseph.