Nigerian senator using residence as joint for drug dealers – NDLEA

The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has claimed it found hard drugs and other illicit substances when it raided the Ilorin home of the Kwara South senator, Oyelola Ashiru, last February.

NDLEA Director of Media and Advocacy, Femi Babafemi, disclosed this at a press briefing in Abuja on Monday.

The agency was responding to Mr Ashiru’s claim that it was ineffective and had become compromised in its duty. The senator made the claim last week during the debate on the bill to establish the National Institute for Drug Awareness and Rehabilitation.

“Drug issues have become a very serious problem. Without being economical with the truth, more than 70 per cent of our youthful population is into drug consumption.

“And from my own little discussion in my constituency, I discovered that the issue goes beyond NDLEA.

“NDLEA has become so compromised, so ineffective to the extent that even drug enforcement or drug education, NDLEA will never get where we are going to,” Mr Ashiru had said during his contribution to the bill.

Mr Babafemi said the agency was “compelled to call the 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.”

Raid on senator’s home 

He said while NDLEA acknowledged the great work of the Senate towards uplifting Nigeria and Nigerians, especially its support for the ongoing concerted efforts towards the amendment of the Act establishing it, the agency was duty-bound to respond to the unprovoked attack against it by Mr Ashiru during his contribution to the debate on the new bill.

He said the agency waited for a whole week, hoping the senator would clarify his position on such a weighty allegation against it, but that when he did not do so, it was left with no option but to set the record straight.
Raid on senator’s home

Mr Babafemi said the anti-drug agency raided the senator’s apartment on 4 February, at about 1.30 p.m., after receiving credible intelligence that the senator was using his apartment as a joint for drug dealers and consumers of hard drugs.

He said two of the senator’s aides were arrested during the raid in connection with the allegation while another one escaped.

“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,” Mr Babafemi said.

Drug use prevalent

The use of hard drugs is prevalent in Nigeria, particularly among the youths, despite efforts of the NDLEA to curb it.

Some of the most abused drugs include cannabis, amphetamine, codeine, cocaine and heroin.

Experts have argued that top public officers are promoting the use of hard drugs and other illicit substances among the youth, especially for political campaigns.

During last Tuesday’s plenary, Kano South Senator Kawu Sumaila accused his colleagues of allowing the use of hard drugs in areas they have control over, such as their homes and offices.

“As I am speaking now, most of our offices in our constituencies, most of our political offices in our constituencies, most of our houses, when you go there, you will find out that there is a mountain of drugs and there are drug dealers in our offices and in our houses, in our houses,” Mr Sumaila said during the debate the Bill to establish National…

But the Deputy Senate President, Barau Jibrin, who presided over the plenary that day, ruled the senator out of order on the ground that his comment was not relevant to the topic of discussion.

Another discovery

Mr Babafemi said aside from raiding Mr Ashiru’s Ilorin residence, NDLEA personnel also received intelligence that some accomplices of the senator are dealing in illicit drugs in the Offa area, the senator’s hometown.

He noted that the agency raided the joints in the senator’s hometown and one of the accomplices, Oluwatosin Odepidan, was arrested in connection with dealing in hard drugs.

“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 recovered from him on June 11, 2023,” he said.

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Attempt to rescue alleged drug dealer

The NDLEA spokesperson said the senator attempted to prevent the anti-drug agency from charging his accomplices to court, but the agency resisted.

He said the arrested suspect was later charged by the court and convicted for the offence in June.

“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 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,” Mr Babafemi said.

Mr Ashiru could not be reached for comment as he did not pick PREMIUM TIMES calls to his phone as of the time of filing this report.