By BASHIR ADEFAKA
President Muhammadu Buhari has approved the appointment of Brigadier General Mohammed Buba Marwa (Rtd) as the new Director General of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA).
Until his appointment as DG NDLEA, the no-nonsense “yet very amiable” General was the Chairman of the Presidential Committee on Drug Abuse.
President Buhari had, through the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Mr. Boss Mustapha, appointed Marwa to replace the former NDLEA Chairman, Alhaji Muhammad Mustapha Abdullah.
Mohammed Buba Marwa is a retired Nigerian army officer, who had served as the Governor of Borno State and then Lagos State during the military administrations of Generals Ibrahim Babangida, Sani Abacha and Abdulsalami Abubakar.
He was well respected for his administration in Lagos where he improved the security situation with the establishment of Operation Sweep.
His administration also introduced the use of tricycle as a means of transportation which did not only improve the transport situation then but also provided employment for a lot of jobless youth in the state.
The DEFENDER reports that the Adamawa-born General made tricycles, during his administration in Lagos, free of police checks and tout disturbance. It is on record that Lagos of Marwa had no agbero talk less that they would be what they are today in the state designed to be Centre of Excellence.
To that end, the tricycles were nicknamed ‘Keke Marwa’ a name that has sticked to them till today and entered the Nigerian English lexicon.
Marwa is a name in Nigeria that will not be wished away in a hurry talking about his ability to douse tension created by ethnic or communal issues as he always threw himself into the midst of such issues, thus becoming very highly respected among Lagosians.
