NDLEA Raids Senator’s Two Residences, Recovers Drugs

By Gideon Njoku

The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA, on Monday, October 21, made a startling disclosure. The Agency said it discovered Drugs in two residences of a serving Senator, Oyeyola Ashiru, Kwara South. It also revealed that two Aides of the Senator are in its custody.

The NDLEA made this announcement on Monday when it tried to rationalise the reason behind the Senator’s vicious attack on the Agency a few days ago.

Not a few Nigerians were shocked when Senator Ashiru, on the floor of the Senate, during plenary, ran down the NDLEA. He dismissed the Agency as incompetent and very corrupt. To him, the NDLEA should be scrapped. And he gave example of the corruption in the Agency which is headed by one of Nigeria’s best, Brigadier General Mohammed Buba Marwa.

But on Monday, the NDLEA give us an inkling why Senator Ashiru dragged the it in the mud.

At a press conference addressed by the Agency’s Director, Media and Advocacy, Femi Babafemi in the company of NDLEA’s Area Commander, Kwara State, Ayodeji Olaoluwa, the NDLEA revealed that the Senator ran it down in such a manner, because it raided the Senator’s personal residences in Ilorin and Offa, and  recovered illicit drugs. In the process, based  on thorough intelligence gathering, Aides of the Senator were arrested, and are in custody.

The Agency said it waited fir the Senator for a whole week to recant his wild allegation or provide evidence. But since none was coming, it decided to let Nigerians know the reason behind Senator Ashiru’s attack on the Agency.

Said the NDLEA in part:

“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.”

“The Agency has 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.

“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 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.

Expressing surprise that Ashiru dared say the Agency is corrupt, compromised and corrupt, the NDLEA reeled out a couple of its accomplishments even recently.

NDLEA: “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 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.

“We 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. 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,” the statement noted.