It appears to be a new lease of life in the fight against illicit drugs in the country under a new sheriff. ELEOJO IDACHABA takes a look at how, like the late NAFDAC boss, Prof. Dora Akunyuli, the current NDLEA chairman, Gen. Mohammed Buba Marwa (retd.), is breaking new grounds.
If Gen. Mohammed Buba Marwa (retd.), the chairman of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), continues in the current stride of going after those described as untouchable in the fight against illicit drugs, his name would not only be written in gold, but would be remembered as someone, who like the late Prof Dora Akunyuli, as head of NAFDAC, decided to tread on paths where angels feared to tread.
When he was appointed by President Muhammadu Buhari over one year ago, no one thought the appointment would make any impact, especially as many had perceived the current administration as lacking the political will to call a spade where necessary. But the retired General seems to be proving a point.
This reporter’s investigation showed that this former Lagos and Borno state military administrator can still replicate the same dimension of feats he performed in those states under the late Gen Sani Abacha. To him, it’s either performance or nothing else. That probably informed the thrust of his maiden meeting with top management staff of the agency.
Re-writing history
While he is determined to rewrite the history of the agency battered long after the exit of Gen. Musa Bamaiyi, NDLEA’s former boss, Nigerians have likened gen. Marwa’s zeal to the late Akunyuli’s in the National Agency for Drugs Administration and Control (NAFDAC) where Akunyuli defied all odds to fight fake drugs even against the interest of her tribesmen who are notorious for importing and circulating fake drugs into the country.
On many occasions, she nearly paid the supreme price, but stood her ground to ensure that the war against fake drugs succeeded. Like Akunyuli, Marwa appears to have won the same garb as he goes about in all his campaigns against drug abuse, blocking all drug entry points, arresting and prosecuting offenders and conspirators.
During his maiden meeting with top management staff of the agency, Marwa had said, “As the lead agency in the drug war in Nigeria, you are all too familiar with the extent of devastation that drug use has caused our nation. Drug use has eaten very deep into our social fabric. Every community in Nigeria is affected.
“It needs repeating that the number of drugs users in Nigeria now, of all ages must be well over 15 million.
“If we extrapolate the figures of the recent UNODC survey of 2018 where 14.3 million Nigerians between the ages of 15 to 64 years were found to be drug users, at that time, nearly three times the global prevalence.
“We would resuscitate NDLEA to be fully active, to be effective, respected and be feared by all concerned criminals. Nigeria is the only country we have; we cannot fold our arms. We can, will and must eliminate the drug scourge.” Marwa also warned peddlers to desist from dealing in illicit drugs.
Novel approach
In what looks like a new approach to the drug fight, Marwa wrote a letter to the chairman of All Progressive Congress (APC), Sen. Abdullahi Adamu, requesting that officials of the NDLEA be given access to conduct drugs integrity tests for politicians seeking political offices on the platform of the party.
Gen. Marwa noted that the same would also apply to other political parties wishing to field candidates for any public office.
The NDLEA boss who was speaking during the 1st quarter award ceremony of the agency in Abuja explained that the drugs test is necessary to ensure that politicians vested with important national offices do not used budgetary allocations to buy cocaine or Methamphetamine instead of providing needed services for the masses.
“At the centre of drug demand reduction is drug testing. Practically, all Nigerians should be subjected to drug test: politicians, students, workers and all. We have set the ball rolling at the agency because charity begins at home,” he said.
Under him, NDLEA has tackled drug barons at every entry and exit points in the country, had raided club houses, parks and gardens to make arrests. All those are like ice breakers to engagements the agency has had with those who either traded or aided drug business in Nigeria.
Speaking on the Hausa Service of the Voice of America (VOA) recently, Marwa said since the traffickers believe that even when convicted and jailed they can always come back to their illicit wealth, NDLEA would ensure that they don’t meet the ill-gotten wealth they left behind even after they come out of prison.
“In dealing with drug and its trafficking, you know there’s huge amount of money in the business. Just a small thing but you see a lot of money. Such is found in different kinds of wealth.”
Citing the case of former DCP Abba Kyari whose case is before the court, Marwa who was though economical with words said at another forum that.
“For one to be caught red handed and you later turn to blame others, there is no sense in doing so.
“So, we now decided that in our operation, we would chase the individual and also go after the wealth. That’s how we will work. So it’s not only about Abba Kyari, whoever we arrest, we confiscate his wealth. We would close his bank account. All his wealth that came proceeds from the drug business; we will seize it.
“However, it is the court that gives the final judgement if the property is being forfeited. We are not the ones to sell it, it’s the Minister of Justice that does that according to the law. Then the money would be returned to the federal government coffers.”
Buhari’s concerns
It was President Buhari who, underscoring the enormity of drug addiction in the country, said if the scourge “is not fought frontally, it would affect even the third generation from now,” adding that “experiences have shown that in any family where the father is addicted to drugs, such lifestyle is passed on to the children and grandchildren children.”
According to him, drug abuse is a cancer spreading across society leading to overdoses, the break-up of families and leading to the collapse of law and order in the cities and suburbs.
Driven by such fears, he said the agency devotes the bulk of its resources to interdiction of any individual involved in consuming, trading or benefiting from the profits of trading in drugs, and seizures of drugs, mainly cannabis, cocaine and heroin.
Buhari recalled that in the days of Gen. Bamayi, over 3,000 Nigerians were incarcerated for drug-related offences for terms ranging from five to 25 years.
“It is hoped that if this trend continues under Marwa, drug offenders would constitute the majority of Nigeria’s prison population in months and years to come.”
Applause
While applauding the recent raids by operatives of the NDLEA on club houses and recreational parks in Abuja and Lagos, Madam Julietta Anabamba who operates a recreational relaxation garden in Abuja told this reporter the move was commendable.
“It was almost becoming disgusting to see young boys of between 16 and 25 converging in a garden as early as 9am to inhale drugs. I run a recreational/relaxation garden in Wuse. The place opens to customers from 1pm in line with the directives given to us, but it would surprise you that as early as 9am, may be because of the prolong strike in universities, young boys and girls are already gathering in the garden with substances that are clearly prohibited and before 1pm, they are gone. This happens mostly in the morning time when their parents are probably out of the house. That is why I commend the various raids carried out in gardens. I want them to continue because the boys are giving us bad names.”
The current drive by NDLEA, no doubt, is causing ripples among drug pushers and potential users.
