My cocoa trade came to ruins due to hard drugs - Lekan Sowemimo

A cross-section of rehabilitated ex-addicts.
Photo: Wale Azeez

In this write up, Adewale Oshodi chronicles the life events of some former addicts whose lives were saved from total destruction through rehabilitation by a concerned Non-Governmental Organisation.

Lekan Sowemimo used to be a commodity trader. He sold and bought cocoa in Abeokuta, Ogun State and he was prosperous in his trade. Everything was working well for him until he took to smoking heroin and cocaine.

That year was 1979 and the experience of smoking hard drugs was exciting at first as it helped him feel ‘high.’ For a couple of months, he was enjoying this new habit. “Smoking cocaine and heroin was not so common then, so, it became a kind of ego booster among friends. Those who smoked cigarette were classed as not being up to the level of those who smoked hard drugs”, Sowemimo recounted.

“As time went on, I became addicted to these drugs and anytime I could not lay my hands on cocaine and heroin, I felt as if it was just a matter of time for me to pass on. “To sustain my addiction, I started selling my property. The first thing to suffer from my addiction was my business. All the money I was making was going into buying cocaine and heroin and in no time, everything got ruined.”

Sowemimo said after he had sold everything he had, he shifted to his father’s property. “I sold anything I could lay my hands on,” he said. “When there was nothing left for me to sell again, I moved to Beere, Ibadan and I became an area boy.”

Speaking on how he lived as an area boy, Sowemimo said he, along with other area boys, begged people for money. He said since most of them had no family, they lived on the streets. “All those years, I looked like a mad man and would go for months without taking my bath. I even slept on a bench. Unfortunately, the money I made went into buying heroin or cocaine. I preferred not to eat, as I would be okay once I took the hard drugs”
“It was just a terrible life,” Sowemimo said, thankful to God. “I got to Beere in 1983, when I left Abeokuta, Ogun State and it was not until September 29, 2002 that the person God sent to rehabilitate me, in the person of the founder of Goodworker Movement International, Pastor Tunji Agboola, found me.

Speaking on the difference between the life he lived as an addict and now that he is free, the father of two said, “it is incomparable. If I had no money, I would do anything to buy drugs and that was when I started selling my property.” “Drug addiction is Satan itself and I would not advise anybody to take up smoking cigarette, not to talk of cocaine, heroin, Indian hemp and other dangerous drugs.”

“Now, I’m starting what I should have done 18 years ago. I am married now with two kids and I work in a sachet water producing company. I thank God for what he has done in my life. My life is a testimony and that was why I named my first daughter Testimony.”

“If I was not rescued, I would have ended my life on a sour note. That was what the devil wanted, but God in His infinite mercy saved me,” Sowemimo said, admitting that during his rehabilitation, a professor once said it was difficult for an addict to be rehabilitated totally, “but for five years now, I have not taken cocaine and heroin.

“Again, an addict doesn’t have time for women because that deadly intake destroys a man’s sexual ability. However, I thank God for saving me on time.” Another rehabilitated addict is Evangelist Sola Akinpelu who was hooked on drugs for 14 years. According to him, he started smoking cigarette when he was in primary six and by the time he got to secondary school, he had graduated to smoking marijuana and then heroin and cocaine.

“The devil tormented my life for 14 years,” Evangelist Akinpelu said. Speaking on how he started, Evangelist Akinpelu said as a young boy, he lived at Oke Ado, Ibadan and in a bid to get along with his friends, he started smoking cigarette while still in primary school.

“By the time I got to secondary school, I was already smoking heroine and cocaine and what I would say really aided me was lack of parental care. My parents divorced when I was young and that was what Satan capitalised on to ruin my life. It was during that period that I was introduced to cigarette by friends. “Since my parents were divorced, I lived with a guardian who never bothered about what I was doing or the friends I kept, so it was like an expressway to hell. I thought that was freedom, but that path led to the wilderness where I roamed aimlessly for 14 years.”

Evangelist Akinpelu, whose goal in life then was to become an architect, said anybody who finds himself in drugs taking would definitely lose focus in life. “What you are, who you are, your family and your life ambitions would no longer matter to you. All you will be bothered about is where to get money to buy the next wrap of cocaine or heroin you will take.”

When asked if he thought he could still become an architect, Evangelist Akinpelu said for now, he is concentrating his efforts on winning more souls for Christ, “especially those who have lost their souls to addiction. “Also, as a married man, I am concentrating on giving my children the best fatherly love, which I lacked when I was growing up, the result of which led me into drugs. I also want to be a good husband to my wife.”

On what he does for a living now, Evangelist Akinpelu said during rehabilitation, he was taught catfish production and that is what he does for a living. “However, being an Evangelist, I minister to lost souls and I also head a unit in the church I attend. I thank God for what He has done in my life. My life now has a meaning and I have people who look up to me as a responsible father, husband and co-worker.

“For those who are smoking now, I would advise them to stop before it gets to another level. Those who smoke cigarette will one day derive less satisfaction in it, they would try hard drugs and that would be the beginning of their journey to destruction. “I am so lucky to have been rehabilitated but there are many who never got help and are on the streets now all across the country as mad men. Goodworker Movement International (the NGO handling addicts’ rehabilitation) is really doing a good job and may God continue to bless the founder, Pastor Tunji Agboola and the institution,” Evangelist Akinpelu said.

For Ajibade Onikoyi, the road to addiction started in 1989 when friends asked him to try cocaine and heroin, which he did, and since then, he became hooked. “By 1990, I had been hooked. I neglected my family for over ten years. It is now that I’m free that I know addiction is living in bondage.

“It is much easier not to fall into that bondage at all than hoping to get rehabilitated after becoming an addict, as only a few people get fully rehabilitated,” Mr. Onikoyi said. Reflecting on his childhood, he said he never believed there was devil but when he became an addict, he saw devil face-to-face.

“I’m now okay. I am back with my family members who I neglected for over ten years. During that turbulent period of my life, I only cared about how to get money to buy cocaine and heroin. “I’ m now someone who could be seen in public because, then, I looked like a mad man. I now see the reason why drugs — cocaine, heroin, marijuana and others — are banned by countries of the world. They can ruin lives,” Mr. Onikoyi said.

The founder of Goodworker Movement International, Pastor Tunji Agboola, while speaking on how the vision to rehabilitate drug addicts started, said, “the call came in January 2002 from God and by August 2002, we went to Beere, a place notorious for drug addicts and the number one point for drug sale in Oyo State, to get some addicts for rehabilitation.”

“Since the movement started, about 42 people have been rehabilitated, those were the ones we took from the streets ourselves. However, there is a number of addicts whose families brought to our centre for rehabilitation,” Pastor Agboola said. On how the centre is coping financially, the Goodworker Executive Director said there are private individuals who are committed to the vision of the centre.

“I want to appreciate Sir Bode Akindele, he has been a great supporter of our organisation. He gave us our 18-seater bus and also partly funded our agricultural programmes like fish farming and other skills acquisition in agriculture. “Archbishop Ayo Ladigbolu is our grand patron and member of the Board of Trustees. However, funding is never enough. It still remains one of the greatest challenges of Goodworker Movement.

“Running a rehabilitation centre is not easy. The inmates will eat and people we are talking about are adults, men who eat much, so funding is never enough. Also, we pay staff who work for us and we pay rent for the building we use.” On whether the rehabilitated addicts could stay away from drugs forever, Pastor Agboola said the centre monitors ex-addicts so that they wouldn’t go back to drugs.

“We don’t just rehabilitate them, we also try to find something for them to live on after their rehabilitation. That is why we run skills acquisition in agricultural programmes. We have those who are fish farmers, pig farmers, etc now and those who are not interested in agriculture, we use our contacts to get them jobs.”

“Goodworker is God’s project and it is bound to succeed. However, government should also partner organisations that are into rehabilitation so as to reduce the number of drug addicts. More efforts should also be put into telling our people to keep off drugs. Drugs can ruin a promising life,” Pastor Agboola advised.