The Nigeria Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has entered into a war of words with the Senator representing Kwara South, in the Nigerian Senate, Senator Oyelola Ashiru. The anti-drug agency said it conducted a raid on the Senator’s country home in Ilorin, Kwara state in February, arresting two of his aides in the process. The war of words started when the Senator lent his voice on the floor of the senate when a bill to establish the National Institute for Drug Awareness and Rehabilitation came up for hearing.
In his contribution, the lawmaker accused the NDLEA of being ineffective and accused their officials of being compromised in their duty. “Drug issues have become a very serious problem. Without being economical with the truth, more than 70 per cent of our youthful population is into drug consumption.
And from my own little discussion in my constituency, I discovered that the issue goes beyond NDLEA.
“NDLEA has become so compromised, so ineffective to the extent that even drug enforcement or drug education, NDLEA will never get where we are going to,” Mr. Ashiru had said during his contribution to the bill.
In a counter, Spokesman for NDLEA, Mr. Femi Babafemi, said the agency was “compelled to call (a) press briefing today because of an unfortunate development earlier last week during plenary in the Nigerian Senate when some uncomplimentary, unfounded, defamatory remarks were made against the Agency.”
He said while NDLEA acknowledged the great work of the Senate towards uplifting Nigeria and Nigerians, especially its support for the ongoing concerted efforts towards the amendment of the Act establishing it, the agency was duty-bound to respond to the unprovoked attack against it by Mr. Ashiru during his contribution to the debate on the new bill.
He said the agency waited for a whole week, hoping the senator would clarify his position on such a weighty allegation against it, but that when he did not do so, it was left with no option but to set the record straight.
Babafemi said the anti-drug agency raided the senator’s apartment on 4 February, at about 1.30 p.m., after receiving credible intelligence that the senator was using his apartment as a joint for drug dealers and consumers of hard drugs.
He said two of the senator’s aides were arrested during the raid in connection with the allegation while another one escaped.
“The personal house of the senator in GRA Ilorin, the capital of Kwara State, had been raided in the recent past, where drugs and illicit substances were recovered while two of his aides, Ibrahim Mohammed and Muhammed Yahaya, were arrested.
“Based on credible intelligence and surveillance which confirmed that the senator’s house was being used as a drug joint for drug dealers and users, the house was raided by our operatives at 1:30 pm on February 4, 2024, during which the two aides were arrested, while a third suspect escaped arrest,” Babafemi said.
