ULEFUNTA: Treat NDLEA as agency for fighting insecurity through anti-drug war, not as opposition – Marwa tells Akeredolu

By KEMI KASUMU

The Governor of Ondo State, Arakunrin Oluwarotimi Akeredolu (SAN), has been urged to see the war against drug abuse and trafficking in the core South West state as a duty that must be given full support by his administration.

This appeal was given by Chairman/Chief Executive of the NDLEA, Brigadier General Mohamed Buba Marwa (Rtd), while paying a courtesy visit to the governor in Akure Thursday, on the sidelines of his visit as guest lecturer at Akure Kingdom’s Ulefunta Annual Public Lecture holding on Friday 8 October, 2021.

Represented at the visit by a former Director General of the agency, Otunba Lanre Ipinmisho, General Marwa told the governor, who was represented by the state Deputy Governor, Mr. Ayedatiwa, that he could not sit away ad watch the NDLEA’s anti-drug fighting going on and not render his support.

He said Akeredolu should take the anti-narcotics body as an agency in fight against insecurity being, according to him, that the bottom line of all indecisive as seen in the country has got the influence of drug in it.

“We are delighted to be here today and to re-emphasise the fact that most of the problems we have in Nigeria is insecurity. And in each of the problems of insecurity you see, there is the hand of drug abuse,” he said.

He continued, “We have lost over 500 officers to fighting drug abuse in Nigeria. We need to fight drug abuse and trafficking. We need your help to support the fight.

“We want you to treat us, the NDLEA, as your agency in the fight against drug. Do not see the agency as an opposition. Nigeria is facing a serious drug based insecurity.

“We have had a case of a boy asking his mother for money, N30,000 but because the mother said she had no money to give him, he killed the mother. Only the influence of drug can make a child kill his mother at that level. We need to fight the problem,” he said soliciting the support of the governor to support the NDLEA.

Responding on behalf of the governor, the deputy Governor said, “We have heard all that you have said. We know the negative impacts of drug. That is why we have yahoo-yahoo. That is why we have cultism.

“The effect of drug abuse is bad. We don’t want to see drug based issues in our state. This is the millenium. It is global problem. We need you to fight drug in the society. The governor loves you to fight it. Drug causes kidney damage, liver damage. We cannot run away from this reality.

“We in Ondo State will cooperate with you to ensure that we fight drug abuse in the society,” the governor said.

He, however, insisted that in what e called Igbo, thee is medicinal values chain that cannot be ignored.

“But we, in Ondo State, grow Igbo. We don’t want you to just condemn it entirely. We plant Igbo in Ondo State for medicinal purposes and export.

“There are medicinal values to the Igbo we plan in Ondo State. We, however, don’t want Igbo that will turn our children to mad people,” the governor said.

At the Deji’s Palace, the delegation leader, Ipinmisho, appreciated the monarch, who said, “The moment I saw the representative of the NDLEA Chairman, I fell in love with him just like I do to His Excellency General Marwa himself, because he is a worthy representative.”

Speaking, the former NDLEA DG said, “I beg you in the name of almighty God. Let us join hands together to fight drug abuse in Nigeria, particularly in Ondo State.”

The DEFENDER recalls that the NDLEA boss, General Buba Marwa, who is former Military Governor of Lagos and Borno State, on 21 June this year, disagreed with Governor Akeredolu and some members of the House of Representatives over their respective push and move to legalise cannabis in Nigeria.

Akeredolu had urged the Federal Government to jettison what the senior advocate of Nigeria described as traditional orientation and “archaic” sentiment that says cannabis is a ‘devil’s plant.’

The governor, had at a stakeholders’ roundtable on the “benefits and opportunities of cannabis plant in Nigeria” earlier before then, urged the Federal Government to give legal backing to cannabis to enable its use in the country, saying that “cannabis is a multi-billion naira industry that can help diversify the Nigerian economy if judiciously utilised.”

The National Assembly had also been making moves for legalisation of the illicit substance under the guise of its economic value, a move believed to be sponsored by the likes of Akeredolu.

Marwa, who spoke at a press briefing to unveil the year’s week-long programme of activities in commemoration of the United Nations (UN) International Day Against Drug Abuse and Illicit Drug Trafficking in Abuja, on 21 June, 2021, said it was a matter of life and money, adding that it is like seeing fire and plunging into the flame. He said the agency would rather choose life.

He threatened to burn down any farm with illicit substance and it has made Nigeria one of the leading anti-drug fight performing countries today.

“The NDLEA will continue to burn any farm that we find the substance and arrest the perpetrators. It is dangerous. It is bad for our health,” Marwa had said in June, four months before the visit to Ondo State on Thursday 7 October, 2021.