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A repentant drug addict in Ilorin, Kwara State, Omoh Hussein, has asserted that the war against illicit drug peddling and intake in Nigeria may never succeed unless it is taken to hotels and other hospitality facilities.
Hussein, who prided himself as a drug user, added that security agents, including men of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), the police, and other personnel, often compromise when they come raiding their hideouts.
Speaking with newsmen on Thursday at the second Kwara stakeholders’ summit on drug abuse, prevention, and control in Ilorin, Omoh, who alluded to the rising cases of drug peddling and abuse to the country’s poor socio-economic conditions, said: “The government is just looking in the wrong direction in the fight against drug war.”
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He disclosed that while security personnel and operatives are combing the hideouts of poor users, “the real users are out there in the hotels and other relaxation facilities.
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“They often send us on errands to get colorado (colos), cannabis, and other banned substances. If the government is serious about this war, it must extend it to those areas,” he stated.
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He, however, added that even some security operatives from NDLEA and policemen sent after them (common users) often demand drugs from them as a means of settlement.
“When they arrest us, they will ask if we have drugs to bail ourselves. Sometimes we do, and at times we don’t. When we have, we give, and when we don’t, they go away after financial settlement,” he stated.
