There are fears that political power and decisions in Nigeria and the other West African countries risk falling under the control of wealthy drug barons who record annual turnover of $1billion, SUNDAY PUNCH investigations indicate.

Nigerian drug barons and other criminal syndicates in the West African countries are said to be presiding over a thriving trade in cocaine and other hard drugs with total worth enough to take over the weak political structures in the sub-continent.

The fear of the wealthy drug barons, a United Nations officer on Drugs and Crimes in Africa, Latin America and the Middle-East, Mr. Chris Van Der Burgh, said, was at the centre of the body's new strategy to combat drug trade in the region.

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The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency has arrested a 114-year-old man, Chief Sulaimon Adebayo, in Ogun State, in connection with the discovery of 6.5 tonnes of weeds suspected to be marijuana, popularly called Indian Hemp, behind his house.

Parading the suspect in Abeokuta on Friday, the State Commandant of the NDLEA, Mrs. Chinyere Obijuru, said the anti-drug agency, acting on a tip off, swooped on the house of the centenarian, who claimed to be the Baale (community leader) of Oja Sango, Odeda Local Government of the state.

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The Ogun State Government has called on the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency to find 'appropriate' ways of disposing the drugs seized from drug barons and traffickers in the country.

The State Governor, Otunba Gbenga Daniel, who spoke at the burning of 3,015 kilogrammes of cannabis, cocaine and heroine in Abeokuta on Friday, said the burning of exhibits in open air constituted environmental hazard.

Represented by the Commissioner for Environment, Dr. Olukoya Adeleke-Adedoyin, the governor expressed worry that the burning of the exhibits had weakened the fight against climatic change.

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The scourge of Indian hemp cultivation in the South-West of Nigeria is a major problem for the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, writes ADEMOLA ONI

EACH week at the nation's international airports, tens of Nigerians are caught with hard drugs of varying weights. Yet, the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency has not expressed its desperation to tackle the drug menace at the points of exit.

Somehow, the NDLEA appears to be fighting a battle that seems to be taking a lot of resources of the anti-narcotics body. At its third zonal awareness campaign on the prevention of the cultivation of illicit drugs, trafficking and abuse, in Abeokuta last week, the Director-General of the NDLEA, Chief Lanre Ipinmisho, expressed concern on the notoriety which the South-West had gained in the cultivation of cannabis, popularly known as Indian hemp or ganja in local parlance.

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The South West zone of National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) recently converged on Abeokuta, Ogun State capital on awareness campaign on the prevention of illicit drug crop cultivation, trafficking and abuse. Jaiyeola Andrews, who was at the event writes

Illicit drug trafficking is one of the vices plaguing the society. While the agencies are working hard against the influx of illicit drug in the society, drug barons and couriers device novel strategies daily to beat the traps of the agency. In Nigeria for example, despite all efforts made by NDLEA to stamp out illicit drug trafficking, abuse and cultivations, drug traffickers chose to look the other way, and often pay the price with their lives.

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The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has sacked 100 members of staff involved in aiding and abetting drug deals.

Director General of NDLEA, Mr Lanre Ipinmisho, disclosed this to the News Agency of Nigeria in Abuja at the weekend.

Ipinmisho said the staff were found aiding drug barons and drug traffickers in their illicit trade.

He said the officers were found guilty by the disciplinary committee set up by the agency for various offences.

"In any establishment, you always have some bad eggs. So we fished them out and they were asked to face disciplinary action", he said.

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The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) in Ondo State has urged stakeholders in the state to join the agency in the war against Indian hemp cultivation. Besides, the agency tasked traditional rulers and chiefs to desist from giving their farmlands to India hemp cultivators.

The state Head of Operation, Okon Okon Ulo, who spoke with Daily Sun correspondent in Akure, solicited the assistance of stakeholders in fighting Indian hemp cultivation in the state.

The NDLEA boss said the command made a seizure of 6.1 tonnes of Indian hemp in different locations in the state in the last three months,

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Arrests 87 Suspects

Eighty seven suspected persons were arrested while a total of 15.2 tonnes of Indian Hemp were arrested between January to December last year, according to the official statistics released from the Delta state command of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA).

Among the seizure were sixteen bags of weeds suspected to be Indian Hemp concealed in an ambulance belonging to Akwa-Ibom state government which was caught along Benin/Asaba highway sometime in July last year.

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The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) through its Chairman, Ahmadu Giade reassured Nigerians that the anti-narcotic campaign will be vigorously pursued this New Year so as to enlist the support of all stakeholders. The NDLEA boss in a signed statement made available to Leadership promised Nigerians a peaceful and progressive year. He noted that the country will continue to maintain a frontline role in the quest for a drug free society for all to actualise their dreams and aspirations.

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Kogi State Command of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), between January to date, made seizures of about 4,255 kilogrammes of Indian hemp and arrested 106 suspects.The command also impounded five vehicles of various makes, including a petrol tanker and a bullion van, and successfully counselled 45 addicts. State commander of the agency, Mr Balla Musa, disclosed this in Lokoja at the opening of the state chapter of its nation-wide awareness campaign on the prevention of drug cultivation, abuse and illicit trafficking in Nigeria.

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As the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) staged a five-kilometre walk round Oyo State capital in support of its anti-drug awareness campaign, the Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria (PSN) has advocated capital punishment for hard drug traffickers and peddlers in the country.

PSN specifically wants drastic measures to be taken against the cultivators of cannabis sativa otherwise known as Indian hemp and their barons saying they were murderers and silent killers.

Speaking at the awareness rally organised by the NDLEA in Ibadan for stakeholders, notably the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) Drug Free Club, the Crime Watch and other Non-Governmental Organisations, Oyo State chairman of the PSN, Mr. Kunle Amusan reeled out the dangers inherent in illicit drugs and concluded that "it will not be too much for the authorities to mete out capital punishment to offenders.

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The Chairman and Chief Executivc of the National Drug Law Enforccment Agcncy (NDLEA), Alhaji Ahmadu Giade, has disclosed that the agency will be operating a new law in 2009.

This, he said, would accommodate most of the areas that were not provided for in the present law.

He said this during an interview with LEADERSHIP in Abuja yesterday, while fielding questions from our correspondcnt.

He stated: "We have observed that drug offenders are being given higher punishments which disagrees with their offences and we have discussed this with the Chief Judge of the Federal High Court who also agreed to the observation and related it to all the judges.

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National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), in a bid to further intensify the anti-narcotic campaign, will be recruiting 2,500 lower cadre agents in 2009.

The Honourable Chairman/Chief Executive of the Agency, Ahmadu Giade, made this known to newsmen in Abuja yesterday while addressing issues on the prevention of illicit drug crop cultivation, abuse and trafficking in the country. The recruitment, he explained, is part of efforts by the Federal Government towards empowering the youths and addressing the problems of unemployment in the country.

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Worried by the high rate of cannabis cultivation in the country particularly in the South South geo-political area, the Executive Governor of Edo State, Comrade Adams Aliyu Oshomole and the Honourable Chairman/Chief Executive of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), Ahmadu Giade have strongly advocated for youth empowerment in the country, as the only option to end cannabis cultivation and narcotics problem in the state.

This was disclosed at a workshop organised by the anti-narcotics Agency in Benin City Edo State at the weekend. In which Oshiomhole identified lack of adequate planning for youths in the country as one of the factors responsible for the involvement in illicit drug activities. He noted that "in the past the nation planned for the youth but in today Nigeria , the situation is not the same. At the University of Benin some years back, before graduation as a 400 level student, there are various employers of labour as well as various public authorities coming to conduct interviews in order to identify potential employees but the situation today has also changed".

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THE National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) in Kaduna State has arrested 277 suspected drug traffickers with about 3,820.5kg of both Indian hemp and cocaine. The arrests were made between January and November, 2008.

However, 52 of those arrested have already been convicted while 17 others were rehabilitated by the Agency.

The state Commander of the NDLEA, Mallam Mohammed Malami made this known while addressing newsmen in Zaria weekend.

"This is a special arrest because of the nature and circumstances in which the arrest was made. This is the largest arrest that has been made this year and from just four suspects", he said.

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National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, Osun State Command said at the weekend that it had discovered and destroyed 16 Indian Hemp Farms within the state.

In the same vein, Ondo State Command of the agency said the command had arrested 34 suspects and made a seizure of 6.1 tonnes Indian hemp in different locations in the state in the last three months. During the same period, it said, eleven suspects had been convicted for drug offences.

Speaking at the awarness rally for the "Prevention of illicit Drug Cultivation, Trafficking and Abuse" organised in Osogbo, the Commander of the agency, Barrister Mrs W. Audu, represented by her deputy, Mr Onyema Ezeji, stressed that the agency was poised to ensure total eradication of illicit trafficking in narcotic drug and psychotropic subutances.

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Cases of drug trafficking are rampant in Nigeria. Unemployment, impoverishment and the general socio-economic malaise have been identified as the causes of the illicit trade. Working in partnership with the Federal Government and the British High Commission in Nigeria, Hibiscus London last week kicked off an anti-drug trafficking campaign in Lagos. It is aimed at creating anti-drug trafficking awareness. Gboyega Akinsanmi writes.

Comrade Wale Aribatise was a student activist, but he has now become a pastor, and is currently working with a non-governmental organisation in Lagos with a passion to fight social ills. Just a decade ago, he was walking on the street of Lagos in the night when some policemen arrested and detained him for no specific offence other than what he claimed the officers called wandering.

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Chairman and Chief Executive of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), Ahmadu Giade, has bemoaned the high rate at which cannabis sativa (Indian hemp) is being cultivated, in the South-west geo-political zone of the country. He said , 992 drug suspects were arrested, 223 convicted, and 175,835.53 various drugs seize in the zone. He equally hinted that "quite a number of our forest reserves have today been effectively penetrated, with the active connivance of some unscrupulous persons who for the sake of peanuts, have decided to look the other way while enemies of the society grow weeds that pose a threat to our collective existence." Giade spoke yesterday in Abeokuta, at the South-west zonal workshop on awareness campaign on the prevention of illicit drug crop cultivation, trafficking and abuse in Nigeria, held at the Cultural Centre, Abeokuta, Ogun sate capital. He observed that drug problem has become a major threat to the nation's socio-political wellbeing, saying if not dealt with decisively as expected fron the anti-illicit drug agency, posterity would not be fair to those concerned. According to him, NDLEA would do everything possible to bring drug barons in the country to book, adding that if the barons were allowed to operate unfettered, the Nigerian society would bear the sour brunt. Describing drug barons as enemies of the state, the NDLEA boss, said the aggressive war against the illicit drug trade by the agency would be sustained, stressing that those found guilty of contravening the law of the land, would face its full wrath. In his address at the occasion , Governor Gbenga Daniel of Ogun State, said it was a sad development for the South west to be the hub of illicit drug cultivation and trafficking in the country, as revealed by the agency's record. Daniel, who said the region was noted for cash and food crops production like cocoa and kola nuts among others stressed the need to arrest the negative trend, where the activities of a select few would give the region a bad name. According to him, greed and desire to make quick money at the expense of the larger society, was the root cause as to why dealing in illicit drugs has been on the rise. adding that the trend must not be allowed to continue, as this could be achieved by identifying and bring to book those dealing in the trade.

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THE National Drug Law Enforcement Agency(NDLEA) has arrested a total of 992 drug suspects and seized 175,835.53kilogrammes of various drugs in the Southwest between January and October 2008

Disclosing this at a press conference held in Abeokuta, Ogun State, on Monday was the Chairman of the agency, Mallam Ahmadu Giade, at the flag-off of the SouthWest Zonal Awareness Campaign on the "Prevention of Illicit Drug Cultivation, Trafficking and Abuse in Nigeria."

He said that a total of 196.5 acres of cannabis farmlands were discovered and destroyed in the zone alone this year. He lamented that the zone was lagging behind in the anti-drug campaign compared to other five geopolitical zones in the country, saying that the enormity of the drug problem had become worrisome to the agency.

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The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), has publicly destroyed 5,154,295 Kilogrammes of narcotic drugs in Kano metropoils.

The drugs were jointly seized by the Kano State, Jigawa State and Malam Aminu Kano International Airport (MAKIA) Commands of the Agency.

In his keynote address, the chief executive of the Agency, Ahmadu Giade, who led other dignitaries to set the drugs ablaze, explained that the event offered another opportunity to make the society safer and better.

Giade also urged members of the public to condemn illicit drug trafficking and abuse and to live a drug-free life. He observed that the nature of the drugs trade affected even the innocent citizens, saying "When illicit drug proceeds are injected into the economy of nations, both the guilty and the innocent are effected.

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