Oluwadamilola Aderinoye: Nigerian celeb known as ‘Queen Christmas’ surrenders to NDLEA over alleged drug abuse

A former Nigerian beauty queen, Oluwadamilola Aderinoye, who is wanted by the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), has surrendered to the agency.

Ms Aderinoye, fondly known also as Queen Christmas, surrendered herself eight months after she was declared wanted by the NDLEA.

Femi Babafemi, the agency spokesperson, announced Mr Aderimoye’s surrender in a press statement released on Sunday morning.

Mr Babafemi said she went into hiding in January 2024 when the operatives of the NDLEA raided her home at the Oral Estate, Lekki, Lagos State, following credible intelligence that she dealt in drug abuse.

He said an earlier search of her home led to the recovery of some items including 606 grammes of Canadian Loud, a synthetic strain of cannabis, an electronic weighing scale, large quantities of drugs packing plastics and a black RAV 4 SUV marked Lagos KSF 872 GQ were recovered from her apartment.

“She was declared wanted by the agency in January after she escaped from her Lekki, Lagos residence when NDLEA operatives raided her apartment at the Oral Estate, Lekki, on Wednesday, January 24, following credible intelligence that she deals in illicit substances.

“The suspect, who claimed she had been hiding in Akure, Ondo State, since January when she escaped arrest in Lekki, Lagos, however, surrendered to the agency on Wednesday, 28 August,” parts of the statement read.

In January 2024, NDLEA declared Ms Aderinoye, who doubles as Miss Commonwealth Nigeria Culture 2015/2016, wanted for allegedly dealing in illicit drugs.

She is the founder of the Queen Christmas Foundation, a non-governmental organisation.

While destroying over 30 tons of illicit drugs and substances worth an estimated street value of N2.58 billion last year in Abuja, the NDLEA’s chief executive, Buba Marwa said 14.3 million Nigerians abuse drugs.