NDLEA destroys 3,900 hectares of cannabis in Ondo forest reserves
On 20 May 2019, NDLEA chairman Col. Muhammad Abdallah said the agency never backed growing cannabis for medicine or profit, citing Operation Thunderstorm by the Ondo State Command, which destroyed 3,900.73 hectares in forest reserves. It answered Governor Rotimi Akeredolu's call to treat cannabis as a job-creating industry.
On 20 May 2019, NDLEA chairman and chief executive Col. Muhammad Abdallah (retd) said in a statement that the agency had never supported growing cannabis for medical purposes or economic gain.[1][2]As evidence he cited Operation Thunderstorm, undertaken by the Ondo State Command, which destroyed 3,900.73 hectares of cannabis sativa planted in forest reserves.[1][3][2]
The statement answered Ondo State governor Rotimi Akeredolu, who had called on the federal government to consider cannabis as a thriving industry that would create jobs, saying Ondo was the hotbed of cannabis cultivation and pointing to an estimated legal marijuana market worth $145 billion by 2025.[3]Abdallah said the governor had given a wrong account of their joint visit to Thailand, and that at no point had he backed the commercial or medicinal value of cannabis.[1][3][2]
Abdallah said the Thailand trip was to study how that country moved farmers from illicit crops to coffee, tea, fruit and crafts through projects such as the Doi Tung development scheme, and that Nigeria had restated its opposition to legalising cannabis at the Commission on Narcotic Drugs roundtable in Vienna in March 2019.[1]
Case data
Every number and detail the sources state, with the sources that state it.
The NDLEA's Nasarawa State command destroyed cannabis farms of about 1.5 hectares each in Awe and Kokona Local Government Areas, its new commander CN Saidu Daniel said at Government House, Lafia. Governor Abdullahi Sule told the agency to search out and destroy cannabis farms on ungoverned land in the state.
NDLEA and soldiers destroyed a cannabis plantation covering 1.646 hectares at Eko Camp, near Illushi, Edo, on 28 October 2026. The agency estimated a potential yield of 4,115.53 kg and reported arresting a 50-year-old woman with 301 kg of processed cannabis.
State CID operatives on anti-crime patrol arrested Aondaver Dominic, Sylvanus Umoor and Peter Tar at Sabongida Bature and Gidan Kparev villages in Kadarko, Keana LGA, on 22 October 2026, recovering dry and fresh leaves suspected to be Indian hemp. A search of a garden behind the suspects' residence found more cannabis allegedly under cultivation; all exhibits were secured for NDLEA handover.
The NDLEA destroyed two cannabis farms in Ugbada Forest, Uzebba, on 18 October 2026, burning 450 kg of processed cannabis and keeping 97 kg as exhibits. A 42-year-old woman was arrested nearby with 35 kg.
