NDLEA declares Port Harcourt prophetess, celebrity couple wanted for recruiting teenage girls into drug trafficking

The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has declared three suspects wanted for allegedly recruiting teenage girls into drug trafficking in Nigeria. One of the suspects is a popular Port Harcourt-based prophetess and founder of Christ Power Adoration Ministries, Faith Ugochi. The other two suspects are a celebrity couple, Igho Ubiribo and Danielle Simba Allen. The NDLEA stated that they serve as the arrowheads of an international syndicate operating from Los Angeles, USA. The cartel was exposed when NDLEA operatives at the NAHCO import shed of the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Ikeja Lagos intercepted a consignment of 32.70 kilograms of Loud, a strong variant of cannabis concealed in cartons of used wears on Wednesday, November 16, 2022.

According to the NDLEA spokesperson, Femi Babafemi, a freight agent, Ukoh Ifeanyi Oguguo, was immediately arrested while further investigations led to the arrest of four more suspects: Chikodi Favour, Obiyom Shalom Chiamaka, Nnochiri Chidinma Promise, and Edward Omatseye (aka Montana). During their preliminary interviews, it was learnt that the syndicate rented another building used as a drugs warehouse inside Richmond Estate, Lekki.

The NDLEA’s investigations showed that Favour and Shalom were recruited as sales girls in the illicit drug trade by Prophetess Faith Ugochi of Christ Power Adoration Ministries, using her church platform to recruit teenage girls brought to her for help, on behalf of the celebrity couple: Igho Ubiribo (aka Tiny) and Danielle Simba Allen (aka Dani), who are the owners of the business, while Edward Omatseye (aka Montana) coordinates the illicit drug trade activities for them in Nigeria, with Nnochiri Chidinma Promise as representative of Ben Cargo Ltd, a freight company responsible for the shipment of illicit consignments into the country.

While Nnochiri Chidinma Promise and Edward Omatseye (aka Montana) have already been charged to court and are currently facing trial at the Federal High Court, Lagos alongside Ben Cargo Ltd, a freight company which had been linked to two previous drug seizures and also involved in the current case, several attempts to get Prophetess Faith Ugochi, Igho Ubiribo and Danielle Simba Allen submit themselves for questioning have proved abortive.

The NDLEA has since obtained an order of the Federal High Court Lagos to declare the celebrity couple: Ubiribo Igho and Danielle Allen, as well as Prophetess Faith Ugochi, wanted for drug trafficking. The agency has also blocked the sum of Eighty Million Naira (N80,000,000) traced to the suspects’ private account and obtained a court order to seize all properties linked to them in Lagos and Port Harcourt.

In addition, the NDLEA has recently arrested two other suspects for drug trafficking. One suspect, Abraham Alaigwu, was arrested at Slaughter, Trans/Amadi area of Port Harcourt, Rivers state, with 91.7kg of cannabis. The other suspect, Ayodele Osuya, 35, was caught with 228kg of cannabis in a Toyota Camry car around Quarter Guard area of Akure, Ondo state. The NDLEA commended the officers and men of MMIA for their painstaking investigation of Prophetess Faith Ugochi and the celebrity couple, Igho Ubiribo and Danielle Simba Allen, along with other members of their syndicate.