I USE TO DONATE MY BLOOD IN EXCHANGE FOR MONEY TO SATISFY MY URGE FOR HEROIN, COCAINE ─ REPENT PASTOR

A zonal pastor of Redeemed Christian Church of God, Mr. Victor Edo, said he had to donate his blood in exchange for money to satisfy his urge for heroin, cocaine and some other hard drugs.

Victor said this on Tuesday, during a visit to Christ Against Drug Abuse Ministry in the Araga, Epe area of Lagos by officials of the National Drug Enforcement Agency.

The pastor, an alumnus of the CADAM, told our correspondent that his 13-year journey as a drug peddler and addict started in 1985 in Lagos when he started selling drugs.

Men and Women undergoing rehabilitation

He said, “ At a point, I started taking them. I was the kingpin of Ikeja Cocaine Triangle that media were writing about sometime in 1987. NDLEA eventually arrested me.

“I sold my blood just to satisfy my urge. My father and my relatives rejected me, but eventually I came to CADAM in 1998. Today I am an ordained pastor.”

A woman in the rehabilitation centre, Steven Ufom , told PUNCH Metro that the demise of her husband turned her to a drinker.

“I drank alcohol for nine years. Initially, I was taking it to relieve myself of pains and sorrows caused by the death of my husband because there was nobody to assist me in taking care of my three children. I took different kinds of alcohol to the point of stupor. I was all alone. My parents had died; my sons disowned me and ran away from me because of the disgrace I caused them.

“No matter how dejected you are, don’t make drugs and alcohol your last resort. One can easily get addicted,” Ufom said.

Another pastor, Olohunleke Mabinuori, said he was so addicted to drugs that he packed some heroine in his boot when his father took him to London in 1981 in an attempt to stop him from taking had drugs which he started when he was in primary six. Mobinuori added that he left London when he exhausted the heroine.

A 53-year-old nurse, who joined the centre three months ago, said she cooked cocaine and injected it into her body for 31 years. She also said she mixed it with heroine whenever she wanted to smoke, claiming that it was her fiancé that led her into the act.

The Pubic Relations Officer of NDLEA, Mr. Mitchel Ofoyeju, appreciated the coordinator of the centre for assisting the agency in the campaign against drug abuse and promised to continually support it.

When asked what the agency was doing about some of its officials who collected dues from drug barons, the PRO said there was a time a commander in Kano was dismissed when found guilty of such allegation.

While expressing his appreciation to the visitors, the coordinator, Dr. Dokun Adedeji, enjoined NDLEA to rise up to the financial challenges facing the centre. He added that 1,500 people had been sensitised to abstain from drug abuse since the centre was established.