Prophet Adefolusho Olasele, a.k.a. Abbas Ajakaiye, founder/General Overseer of The Turn of Mercy Church, when he was arrested
Prophet Adefolusho Olasele, also known as Abbas Ajakaiye, the founder and General Overseer of The Turn of Mercy Church, has been arrested by the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) over his alleged role in multiple shipments of illicit drugs from Ghana to Nigeria.
Olasele, according to the NDLEA, had been on the run for months, he was apprehended August 3, 2025, at his church in Okun Ajah, Lekki, Lagos.
The agency’s spokesman, Femi Babafemi, in a statement issued today, said operatives waited until the end of the Sunday service before arresting him as he stepped out of the premises.
Babafemi sated that the pastor fled to Ghana in June to evade arrest after operatives linked him to two cannabis seizures of 200kg recovered at Okun Ajah Beach on June 4 and 700kg found in his delivery van on July 6.
“After months of fleeing abroad to evade arrest, the founder and General Overseer of The Turn of Mercy Church, Prophet Adefolusho Aanu Olasele (alias Abbas Ajakaiye) has been arrested for masterminding multiple shipments of illicit drugs into Nigeria.
“Prophet Adefolusho was arrested at his church located in Okun Ajah, Ogombo road, Lekki area of Lagos on Sunday, 3rd August 2025 by NDLEA officers who waited for him since morning to conclude the Sunday worship service in the evening before moving in on him the moment he stepped out of the church premises.
“The arrest came after he had evaded arrest twice and fled to Ghana to hide since June, when operatives started trailing him following the seizure of two shipments of Ghana Loud, a strain of cannabis linked to him. The first seizure of 200kg of the psychoactive substance was made at Okun Ajah beach on 4th June 2025, while another consignment of 700kg of the same substance was recovered from his delivery van on 6th July 2025,” the statement read.
In his statement, Babafemi claimed the pastor confessed to ferrying the consignments via waterways from Ghana.
He said, “In his statement, he admitted ferrying the illicit consignments through the waterways from Ghana into Nigeria, adding that he had fled to the West African country to hide after he escaped arrest twice in the recent past.”
In another operation in Lagos on Thursday, August 7, Babafemi said NDLEA operatives raided an apartment at Parkview Estate, Ikoyi, where they arrested one Benjamin Ukoh and recovered 32 pouches of Canadian Loud, weighing 15.63kg.
“In Nasarawa State, NDLEA operatives on Saturday, August 9, recovered a large consignment of skunk, a strain of cannabis weighing 3,093 kilograms from the trio of Emmanuel Asoquo Johnny, 51; Okem Raphael, 33, and Chekwube Odo, 25, at New Karu area of the state.
“While 29-year-old Nura Yahaya was nabbed at Geza area of Kumbotso Kano State with 639 blocks of skunk weighing 359kg on Friday 8th August, another suspect Umar Adamu Umar, 27, was taken into custody on Wednesday 6th August by NDLEA officers after seizing 9kg of Colorado, a synthetic strain of cannabis from him along Zaria-Kano road, Kano, ” the statement added.
In Gombe State, Babafemi stated that a raid on an uncompleted building in Tudun Wadan Pantami on Friday, August 8, led to the recovery of 550,266 opioid pills and the arrest of Usama Isah.
“The following day, Saturday 9th August, another suspect, Ibrahim Adamu, 23, was arrested by NDLEA officers along Potiskum road, Bajoga with 50,000 capsules of tramadol”, he added.
In Edo State, a Toyota Hiace bus travelling from Onitsha to Isanlu, Kogi, was intercepted at Ewu junction on Wednesday, August 6, with 23,940 tramadol capsules, 1,100 tablets, and 400 pentazocine ampoules. The driver, Taiye Jethro, was arrested.
Commending the officers involved, NDLEA Chairman, Brig. Gen. Buba Marwa (retd), urged personnel nationwide to maintain a balanced approach to drug control operations.
