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Ganduje opposes cannabis legalisation

By Odita Sunday (Abuja), Murtala Adewale and Ahmad Muhammad (Kano)
31 August 2021   |   4:11 am
Kano State Governor, Abdullahi Ganduje, has declared his opposition to any attempt to legalise cannabis sativa in the country, adding that no lawmaker from the state will support such bid in the National Assembly.

[FILES] Ganduje. Photo/facebook/drabdullahiumargandujeofr/

NDLEA advocates pre-marital drug test for couples
Kano State Governor, Abdullahi Ganduje, has declared his opposition to any attempt to legalise cannabis sativa in the country, adding that no lawmaker from the state will support such bid in the National Assembly.

Ganduje made the declaration when the Chairman of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), Brig-Gen. Mohammed Marwa (rtd.) led top officials of the agency to visit him as part of his ongoing War Against Drug Abuse (WADA) visit to the state.

Marwa urged the governor not to support any bid to legalise cannabis sativa by some elected officials in the country. He said the NDLEA was doing so much to cut availability and accessibility to illicit drugs across the Nigeria, and that any attempt to legalise the illicit substance would be a setback to the progress made so far.

Also, Marwa advocated pre-marital drug test for intending couples to check abuse in the family.

He stated this, yesterday, when he led the NDLEA team to visit the Emir of Kano, Alh. Aminu Ado Bayero, at his palace.

The NDLEA boss explained that such test would reduce drug abuse in the society.
million as reparation.

In the suit filed by Abuja-based lawyer, Mr. Darlington Onyekwere, along with Ms Chioma Nwaodike, Ms Obioma Okonkwo and Mr Sideeq Rabiu, on behalf of MRA the group claimed that despite the Nigerian government’s obligations under various domestic, regional and international instruments, it failed or refused to investigate and prosecute the killers of the journalists, while they were exercising their fundamental right to freedom of expression and of the press.

They argued that unless the court intervenes, the government would neither adopt measures to protect journalists nor cause any real, transparent and impartial investigation into the killings of journalists in Nigeria, while the perpetrators of such dastardly act will not be prosecuted.

The journalists that were reportedly killed include The Guardian newspaper’s Ogun State Bureau Chief, Mr. Tunde Oladepo (killed in his Abeokuta home on February 26, 1998 in the presence of his wife and two young children); Publisher of Newsservice magazine, Mr. Okezie Amauben (reportedly shot dead by a police officer in Enugu on September 2, 1998); a freelance journalist with The Guardian, Fidelis Ikwuebe (abducted and murdered on April 18, 1999, while covering violent clashes between the Aguleri and Umuleri communities in Anambra State); Sam Nimfa-Jan of Details magazine in Jos, Plateau State (killed in Kafanchan, Kaduna State, on May 27, 1999, while covering riots between Hausa, Fulani and Zangon-Kataf groups and his body was found with arrows protruding from his back); and Samson Boyi, a photojournalist with the Adamawa State-owned newspaper, The Scope (killed by armed men on November 5, 1999, while on assignment to cover a visit by the then Governor Boni Haruna, to Bauchi State.)

The others are Mr. Bayo Ohu, an assistant news editor with The Guardian (shot in his home in Lagos on September 20, 2009); Nathan Dabak, Sunday Bwede, Mr. Zakariya Isa, Mr. Enenche Akogwu, and Mr. Precious Owolabi, a National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) member serving with Channels Television.

MEANWHILE, Governor Masari called on the media to stop giving voice to those calling for break-up of the country, saying that such calls are unpatriotic.

The governor, who made the call in Kaduna at the weekend while receiving two awards from Nagarta, a Kaduna-based AM radio station, said the media had played a great role in the development of Nigeria and should not mess up its achievements.

Represented by the Commissioner for Information, Alhaji AbdulKarim Sirika, the governor said “the media has a greater role to play” to keep Nigeria united in the face of calls for secession.

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