Group warns NDLEA against witch-hunting Senator Ashiru

The Independent Crusade Against Corruption & Injustice (ICACI) has warned the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) against the witch-hunt of the Deputy Leader of the Senate, Senator Yisa Ashiru, with spurious allegations of misdeeds.

ICACI President, Dr. Guy Fredrick Abu, in a statement, faulted claims by the NDLEA that Ashiru’s aides were arrested during a raid on his residence, while one of them managed to escape.

The NDLEA, through its spokesman, Femi Babafemi, had alleged that the senator’s personal house, situated in GRA, Ilorin, Kwara State, had been used to warehouse illicit drugs.

The NDLEA alleged that the senator’s residence was raided after intelligence revealed it was being used as a drug joint, claiming two of the Senator’s aides were arrested during the raid, while one managed to escape.

The NDLEA’s allegations came barely 24 hours after the Senate Deputy Leader made contributions on the Bill for an Act to establish the National Institute for Drug Awareness and Rehabilitation, which would take away the job of rehabilitation and post-convict orientation of drug addicts from the NDLEA.

In his contributions, Senator Ashiru, apparently speaking from an informed position, described the NDLEA as “the most corrupt and compromised agency,” hence his support for the establishment of the new institute.

However, the group gave the Chairman of NDLEA, Gen. Buba Marwa (retd.), a seven-day ultimatum to publicly apologise to Senator Ashiru and the National Assembly to save the country from any international embarrassment.

The group said it had conducted a preliminary investigation and “can boldly submit that the NDLEA is pursuing personal vendetta against the Distinguished Senator for standing up to support a Bill which the NDLEA has been doing so much underground to kill.”

“If it is not personal vendetta and afterthought witch-hunt, how on earth would an agency of the government that wants to be taken seriously claim it arrested and prosecuted people close to the Senator, to the extent of saying the Lawmaker sent his Personal Assistant to intervene on behalf of the accused, but would keep it underground for over 3 years, only to come out after it was known that the man supported a Bill which the NDLEA felt was a rival?

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“Even though the agency didn’t mention the name of the court where the accused were tried, even if the Senator was mentioned in connection to the crime, what has the NDLEA been waiting for all these years until he contested and won the election and still emerged as a Principal Officer of the 10th Senate?

“If the NDLEA wants Nigerians to believe them, it means they have been covering this allegation until such a time that they felt the Senator started supporting the establishment of another agency. How many more high-profile personalities may the NDLEA have also covered in this regard? Assuming we want to believe their cock-and-bull story, it confirms the Senator’s submission that the agency is corrupt.

“But our preliminary investigation has revealed Senator Ashiru to be an upright man in society, both at home and in Abuja. Ashiru is a 68-year-old man who has never tasted red wine or any form of alcohol since childhood. We had cause to discuss with two classmates of his—one from his primary school days and another from his university days—in the course of our investigations.

“We can categorically tell Nigerians that the NDLEA only wants to embarrass Nigeria and the National Assembly before the international community because, already, nothing is left of their pride as far as professionalism is concerned.

“We are giving the Chief Executive Officer of the NDLEA just 7 days to come out openly and apologize to Senator Ashiru, the institution of the National Assembly, and Nigerians in general. Failure to do this, our members shall mobilize other Nigerians to occupy the NDLEA headquarters until the needful is done,” the statement added.