The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) Monday said a Kwara lawmaker and Deputy Majority Leader of the Senate, Oyeyola Ashiru, attacked its operations because it recovered illicit drugs from his personal house.
At plenary session on October 15, the lawmaker said: “The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency is corrupt and compromised…”, and therefore called for the establishment of another anti-drug agency.
He spoke during consideration of bill seeking for establishment of National Institute for Drug Awareness and Rehabilitation.
…NDLEA fires back
However, the NDLEA Chairman, Brigadier-General Buba Marwa (rtd), said the senator’s outburst was borne out of vendetta, and not on facts or national interest.
Speaking to journalists through the agency’s spokesman, Femi Babafemi, the NDLEA boss said the agency reiterated its unwavering commitment to dismantle illicit drug networks including the one operating in the lawmaker’s house.
He spoke in the company of NDLEA Area Commander, Offa Area Commander, Kwara state, Ayodeji Olaoluwa, and the Officer in charge of Special Enforcement, Kwara State Command during the briefing.
Taking on the lawmaker on his claim, Marwa said: “While acknowledging the great work of the Senate towards the upliftment of Nigeria and Nigerians especially their support for the ongoing concerted efforts towards the amendment of the NDLEA Act, the Agency however is duty-bound to respond to the unprovoked attack against it by Senator Ashiru during his contribution to the debate on a new Bill for an Act to Establish the National Institute for Drug Awareness and Rehabilitation on Tuesday, October 15, 2024.”
Babafemi said the agency waited for a whole week for the lawmaker to clarify his position on the weighty allegation.
And when none was forthcoming, he said, the NDLEA had “no option than to come out and set the record straight for the benefit of other distinguished members of the Senate, our local and international partners as well as the general public.”
“There is no doubt that setting up another agency is within the power of the Senate and if we are invited to contribute to the debate we will be willing to offer our opinion.
“While we cannot fault the power of the Senate on that, yet for a member of the upper chamber to have made such an unfounded and unwarranted categorical statement against the agency led us to look inward to see what could have been responsible for such a carpeting general statement.
“What we found was shocking, and we concluded that his statement came from a place of vendetta and certainly not out of public interest or any altruistic motive.
“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 1:30pm on February 4, 2024 during which the two aides were arrested, while a third suspect escaped arrest,” Babafemi said.
Continuing, the spokesman said: “In another encounter with the senator, the Agency also received intelligence that some of his boys popularly known as ‘Omo Senator’ operating from his hometown, Offa, were equally dealing in illicit drugs. A raid was subsequently carried out on their joint in Offa where one of them, Oluwatosin Odepidan was arrested and illicit drugs such as methamphetamine and cannabis recovered from him on June 11, 2023.
“The bid to get the Agency drop the case against Odepidan including a visit to the Kwara State Command headquarters of the Agency in Ilorin by the Personal Assistant to the senator, one Omoluabi, was rebuffed as Odepidan was promptly charged to court and prosecuted.
“Though the culprit jumped court bail in 2023, he was rearrested in 2024 after the court issued a bench warrant for his arrest. He was eventually convicted and sentenced in June 2024.
“So, going by this back-story, it is deductible that these encounters that the Agency has had with the senator, must have been responsible for his outburst, and unfortunately, false allegation, the type that nobody within and outside of government has ever levelled against NDLEA before.”
…Accolades
He further said: “Incidentally, the next day after Senator Ashiru made the statement, NDLEA in Lagos commissioned a new Marine Command Headquarters building donated by the Government of the UK.
“A similar facility at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport was donated last year by the same British government. We have had other facilities donated by United States INL and executed by UNODC in the past 12 months. We have been receiving various support from the governments of France, Germany and the US, among others.
“Suffice it to say that in the past three years, NDLEA has emerged as a regional leader among national drug law enforcement agencies. So, come to think about it, an agency so bad-mouthed by Senator Ashiru couldn’t have been attracting such international goodwill and commendation for being the ‘most corrupt government agency’ in Nigeria.
“Against the background of our encounter with people linked to him, we are wont to believe that Senator Ashiru’s invectives against NDLEA were borne out of vendetta and not any opinion made in the public interest.
“As an agency, we have been professional in our activities and interactions with citizens as we carry out arrests daily. In the past three years, we have made over 52, 000 arrests and got more than 9, 000 convictions, including three life sentences this year.
“And, as part of our mandate, we have engaged in over 7,000 awareness and sensitisation activities in schools, workplaces, worship centres and communities; treatment and rehabilitation of more than 33,000 drug users including the last two persons arrested in the senator’s house; supported by governments, organisations and other stakeholders in the country and around the world.
“Outside this country, NDLEA has become a reference for drug law enforcement. Therefore, the statement by Senator Ashiru, made in the country’s hallowed chamber in the course of a legislative debate, and made to justify the creation of another agency is motivated by malice; it is a gross misrepresentation of fact; and it is defamatory to the image of NDLEA. We believe the well-meaning public; our stakeholders and our partners can see through such calculated mendacity.”
…Ashiru speaks
However, in a swift reaction to NDLEA’s allegations, Senator Ashiru’s media assistant, Hauwa Ahmad, said her principal would not dignify the anti-drug agency’s wild allegations with response since comments made by him happened in the hallowed chamber of the Senate.
“Senator Lola Ashiru will not respond to NDLEA’s wild allegations against him arising from remarks he made on the floor of the Senate which are covered by legislative privileges and immunity. Responding to such wild allegations by the NDLEA, would amount to the highly respected Senator, joining NDLEA to further breach his privileges.
“He has the right as federal lawmaker to contribute to any debate on national issues with facts at his disposal as done by other senators during debate on the proposed Institute. It is worrisome that an agency like NDLEA would go to the extent of profiling comments made by Senators during debate on National issues,” she said.