NDLEA Bombs Senator Ashiru: You’re After Us Because We Found Drugs in Your House!

The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA, has reacted sharply to the profiling of the agency by  Senator Oyebola Yisa Ashiru representing Kwara South, as the  “most corrupt and compromised” government agency in Nigeria.

The Kwara South senator had launched the attack against the NDLEA during a debate on a proposed bill to establish the National Institute for Drug Awareness and Rehabilitation.

During the debate, Ashiru had lambasted the NDLEA for its failure to fulfill its mandate, arguing that the alleged incompetence had led to the spiraling cases of drug trafficking across the nation.

“The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency is corrupt and compromised,” he had asserted during the debate, saying “hence, I support the creation of the National Institute for Drug Awareness and Rehabilitation.”

But on Monday, the NDLEA returned fire and declared that the attack on its image and public perception by Senator Ashiru was a product of vendetta and raw malice.

The senator’s assessment of the agency was not base on any altruistic motive or national interest, argued Femi Babafemi, NDLEA’s Director of Media and Advocacy during a press briefing at its headquarters in Abuja on Monday.

“The NDLEA is compelled to call this press briefing today because of an unfortunate development earlier last week during plenary in the Nigerian Senate when some uncomplimentary, unfounded, defamatory remarks were made against the Agency,” Babafemi said

Babafemi said that while the NDLEA acknowledged 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, felt 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.”

According to him, the Agency had to wait for a whole week hoping that the senator would clarify his position on such a weighty allegation against it. But when that did not happen, Babafemi said the agency was left with “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,” Babafemi continued during the briefing, “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.”

Babafemi then laid the background for what he said could have been the trigger for Senator Ashiru’s “unprovoked attack”.

His words: “The personal house of the senator in GRA Ilorin, the capital of Kwara State, had been raided in 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.

“In another encounter with the senator, the Agency also received intelligence that some of his boys popularly known as “Omo Senator” operating from his home town, 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.

“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 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 levelled against NDLEA before.”

The NDLEA then thumbed its chest in self-adulation, saying that  despite the impression 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.

“Incidentally, the next day after Senator Ashiru made the statement,” Babafemi recalled, “NDLEA in Lagos commissioned a new Marine Command Headquarters building donated by the Government of the UK. A similar facility at the Murtala Mohammed 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 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 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.”

The NDLEA vowed it will remain undeterred by Senator Ashiru’s attack but will be relentless in ongoing effort to dismantle all illicit drug networks across the country including the one operating in the lawmaker’s house.

“So, if Senator Ashiru has a personal grudge against NDLEA, it shouldn’t be cloaked as a matter of public concern,” Babafemi continued. “His statement of October 15, 2024, uttered in the hallowed chamber of the Nigerian Senate, is a gross abuse of his position as a legislator of the Federal Republic to undermine an agency of government by wrong accusation calculated to erode public confidence in NDLEA and detract from its integrity. And we dare say that such will not deter us from our ongoing effort to dismantle all illicit drug networks including the one operating from the senator’s residence.

“NDLEA since January 2021 has been on a journey of reforms, and so far, we are glad with the progress we are making. We are grateful to the federal and state governments for the support we have been enjoying. We are equally grateful to the National Assembly for the huge support they give that has made possible the turnaround of NDLEA from a dormant agency to a vibrant government organ. We equally acknowledge the unprecedented collaboration with our partners, which has made our work easier. We have concrete results to show for our efforts, and those results cannot be wished away by anyone’s careless remarks.”