The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) said yesterday that it raided the Ilorin home of Senator Oyelola Yisa Ashiru (APC Kwara South), where it recovered a consignment of drugs.
The Chairman of the agency, Brig. Gen. Mohammed Buba Marwa (rtd), who spoke at a media briefing yesterday in Abuja, said the recent attack on the agency by Senator Ashiru was borne out of vendetta, rather than on any altruistic motive or national interest.
Marwa, who was represented by Mr. Femi Babafemi, Director, Media and Advocacy of the agency, also said three of Ashiru’s aides had been arrested and prosecuted, and that one of them was sent to jail in June this year.
Babafemi berated the senator for his comment that “the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency is corrupt and compromised….”
While acknowledging the work of the Senate towards the upliftment of Nigeria and Nigerians, especially senators’ support for the ongoing efforts towards the amendment of the NDLEA Act, the agency, however, said it was duty-bound to respond to what it termed 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 NDLEA waited for a whole week with the hope that the lawmaker would clarify his position on such weighty allegations against it, and that failing to do so left it with no option but to set the records straight for the benefit of other members of the Senate, its local and international partners as well as the public.
“The personal house of the senator (Ashiru) 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.
“In an earlier 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 were recovered from him on June 11, 2023.
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“The bid to get the agency to 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 backstory, 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 leveled against NDLEA,” he said.
The agency said despite the impression that Senator Ashiru was trying to create about its image, the NDLEA has continued to receive accolades from local and international bodies for its successes in the fight against substance abuse and illicit drug trafficking.
He said: “Incidentally, the next day after Senator Ashiru made the statement, the NDLEA in Lagos commissioned a new marine command headquarters building donated by the government of the United Kingdom. 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 the 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 badmouthed 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 sensitization activities in schools, workplaces, worship centers, 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, organizations and other stakeholders in the country and around the world”, he said.
