‘We Recovered Drugs From Ashiru’s Country Home, Aides’ — NDLEA Fires Back At Kwara Senator

The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has fired back at the Kwara South senator, Oyelola Ashiru over remarks that the agency is the most corrupt and compromised in Nigeria.

The NDLEA during a press briefing on Monday in Abuja, disclosed that after a week of no clarification from the senator, it decided to set the record straight and expose the reason for the lawmaker’s comment.

Last week, Senator Ashiru said that the NDLEA failed in its mandate to curb the spread and illicit use of substances, hence the need to create another drug-related agency.

His response was a contribution to the debate on a ‘Bill for an Act to establish National Institute for Drug Awareness and Rehabilitation’.

He said, “The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency is corrupt and compromised, hence, I support the creation of the National Institute for Drug Awareness and Rehabilitation.”

The failure of NDLEA, he insisted, has resulted in the high rate of drug trafficking going on in the country.

Dissatisfied by such remarks, the NDLEA said the lawmaker’s comment was “borne out of vendetta rather than based on any altruistic motive or national interest.”

The briefing chaired by the spokesperson of the agency, Femi Babafemi said, “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 1:30 pm on February 4, 2024, during which the two aides were arrested, while a third suspect escaped arrest.”

Babafemi noted that in another encounter with the senator, the agency said it received intelligence that some of his boys popularly known as “Omo Senator” operating from his hometown, Offa, were equally dealing in illicit drugs.

The NDLEA noted that 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.

He said that in a bid to get the agency to drop the case against Odepidan, the Personal Assistant to the senator, one Omoluabi visited the agency’s Command headquarters in Kwara but failed because Odepidan, according to the agency, was promptly charged to court and prosecuted.

Babacemi noted, “Though the culprit jumped court bail in 2023, he was re-arrested 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 Agency said 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.

Babafemi stated further, “Against the background of our encounter with people linked to him, we want 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.

“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.”

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