Attorney General and Minister of Justice, Michael Aondoakaa, said yesterday that the Federal Government has taken measures to ensure that governors do not indulge in corrupt practices.

"We will not allow the new set of governors to be involved in corrupt practices", Aondoakaa said in Abuja at a workshop on the Validation of National Drug Control Master Plan.

The workshop was jointly organised by the NDLEA and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC). "We will nip it in the bud by strengthening theoperations of anti corruption agencies such as the EFCC, ICPC and the NDLEA," he said.

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Ordinarily, he should be living in retirement. At 70, Inuwa Isah should be one of the sages in his village offering advice on every single subject from family matters to matters of public interest. Instead, he allegedly chose to become a local drug baron.

Afew weeks ago, 70-year-old Inuwa Isah was paraded along with several young men by the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) over alleged drugs offences. Instead of being a senior citizen, living in blissful retirement, Isah was a senior suspect paraded alongside his 18-year-old son who ought to be in school or be engaged in some other gainful venture.

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A middle-aged woman, Modinat Aderemi, has allegedly been stabbed to death by his son, Jamiu Akinola, after a dose of marijuana.

The Police Commissioner in Oyo State, Mr Udom Ekpoudom, disclosed this in Ibadan on Monday while parading suspected criminals before the newsmen.

The suspects allegedly committed offences ranging from armed robbery, burglary to ritualism.

Ekpoudom said Jamiu stabbed her mother with a dagger in the chest because of her incessant advice to him to stop smoking Indian hemp.

According to the police boss, the command received a distress call that a son was stabbing his mother at about 7. 30 p.m. on Saturday.

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The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) is to embark on drug abuse awareness campaign in secondary schools in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) by the end of this month.

The FCT commander of the agency, Mrs. Victoria Egbese, made this known Tuesday in an interview with newsmen.

She said that the campaign was meant to arrest the increasing rate of drug abuse among youths in the FCT.

According to her, greater percentage of the youth are ruined daily by the influence of drugs.

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The Cross River State Commander of the NDLEA, Mr. Adeyemi Adeofe, has said that the absence of Judges at the Federal High Court, Calabar, is now delaying the trial of suspected drug offenders in the state.

Adeofe told the News Agency of Nigeria yesterday in Calabar that 43 suspected drug offenders, who were arrested since July 2007, had not been taken to court due to the absence of Judges at the Federal High Court in Calabar.

Adeofe disclosed that two judges, who were transferred to the state to man the court since August 2007, were yet to assume duty, pointing out that the situation had made NDLEA to keep the suspects in cell since their arrest.

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The Chairman of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), Ahmadu Giade said at the weekend that Cannabis otherwise known as Indian hemp is the biggest drug challenge in the country and the African continent.

Giade made the declaration when the Agency publicly destroyed a total of 101,652.24 kilogrammes of narcotics which is about 102 metric tonnes in Anambra, Delta and Edo States .

Edo State Command where 75,896 kilogrammes of hard drugs were destroyed has the largest quantity. This is followed by Delta State and Anambra State Commands where 22,700 kilogrammes and 3,056.24 kilogrammes of narcotics were set ablaze. The public destruction is part of the Agency's effort to provide a drug free society for all.

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(Ondo) - National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), has instituted a joint operation team with men of the state police command and other security agencies, to reduce cultivation and consumption of hard drugs, especially cannabis.

NDLEA state Commander, Mr Shedow Gaura, said this while speaking with reporters in his office in Akure, Ondo State capital, adding that the action became necessary, to reduce the menace, particularly in Akure, Ondo, Akoko and Ore, regarded as black spots. He said the Command is consistently raiding all the areas to reduce the high rate of consumption of Indian hemp by youths between the ages of 17 and 27, adding that Gaura said Ondo State is one of the highest producers of cannabis adding that the command had seized 10 tonnes of cannabis, while about 172 arrests were made between June and December 2007.

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Katsina

National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), has arrested 396 persons for various drugs offences in Katsina State, last year.

The figure was given by the state's Commander of the Agency, Alhaji Hamisu Lawan, in an interview in Katsina.

He said the suspects were promptly prosecuted, with 74 of them sentenced to various jail terms by a Federal High Court.

The commander, who said the trial of 25 other suspects was on-going, said 34 suspects, confirmed to be drug addicts, were receiving treatment at the state reformatory centre in Katsina.

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Lagos -- Former commander in the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), Mr Abdullahi Bayawo, will today be arraigned at the Federal High Court, Ikoyi, Lagos, on a six-count charge of aiding and abetting and unlawful removal of drug exhibits from the Agency's custody.

According to Mitchell Ofoyeju, image maker of NDLEA, Bayawo was arrested on November 28, 2007, "based on overwhelming evidence on the case against him."

Bayawo, who was the former Commander at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport (NAIA), Abuja, between 2001 and 2005, will face three-count charge of aiding three drug traffickers, Mrs Madu Janet, Nonyerem, aka Magdalene Nwoye, Tarka Lara and Olusegun Abdullazeez, to escape lawful custody, contrary to and punishable under Section 10f (b) of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency Amendment Act NO.15 of 1992.

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Those who know Alhaji Umaru Musa Yar'adua closely say that when ever he sets his mind on achieving a feat that has massive social responsibility goal/implication that will serve the greatest good of the greatest number of citizens, he never looks back and that he scouts for the best possible experts to help in the speedy realization of the objective.

Hauwa Ibrahim the Gombe State born Human Rights lawyer who has won several international awards for her advocacy works aimed at providing legal assistance to some vulnerable Nigerians of Northern extraction that came under the hammer of the widely disputed sharia criminal code and indeed sentenced to different forms of punishments [for alleged sundry offences that border on adultery] including the possible cutting of their limbs told this writer that Umaru Musa Yar'adua as a listening Governor ensured that those accused of violating these sharia laws are allowed to exhaust their constitutionally allowed right of appeal.

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As this year's pilgrimage to Mecca draws near, the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has advised pilgrims not to hide under the cover of the exercise to engage in drug trafficking.

Mr Mohammed Jibrin, the NDLEA Commander at the Malam Aminu Kano International Airport, was quoted as describing drug trafficking in Saudi Arabia as suicidal, as it carries death penalty.

This is contained in a statement by the Public Affairs Officer of the NDLEA, Mr Mitchel Ofoyeju.

The warning came on the heels of the arrest of one Sheni Kareem Mohammed, at the airport on his way to Saudi Arabia for Umrah (lesser Hajj), in October.

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Drug peddling in Nigeria is now a nuisance. No day passes without stories of drug trafficking and peddling in the country. And this is in spite of the efforts of the authorities to stem the tide of drug trafficking.

The National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control recently arrested six suspects for hawking fake and sub-standard drugs in market places in kebbi. According to the state coordinator of the agency, Mr. Fraden Bitrus, fake drugs worth more than 745,000 naira were also seized from patent medicine dealers in the area. He said the seized drugs included injections, antibiotics and some controlled drugs.

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Plans Denying Them Nigerian Passports

Tougher times seem to be ahead of drug traffickers as the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), Chairman, Alhaji Ahmadu Glade yesterday declared that the Federal Government would no longer issue international passport for any Nigerian arrested for drug trafficking offences.

Glade made the declaration at his Lagos office during an official visit by the British Government Foreign Office Minister of State for Immigration, Migration, Drugs and Serious Crime, Dr Kim Howells to the agency.

Glade's assurance was in response to the revelation by Howells that in Britain, serious drug trafficking offenders are never given option of fine as in Nigeria. According to Howells, offenders are sent to jail, while their properties, worth millions of dollars are often confiscated.

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The Rivers State Ministry for Social Welfare and Rehabilitation has formed plans with a Port Harcourt-based Non-Governmental Organisation, Advocacy on Drugs and Substance Abuse (CARDS) to check drug abuse and other malaise in the state.

Speaking when she paid a courtesy visit to the Commissioner for Social Welfare and Rehabilitation, Mrs Ine Aguma Barrister Chibuzor stated that CARDS is partering with the ministry to fight against drug abuse because of the strategic position the ministry occupies and its role in rehabilitating victims of drug abuse.

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The Katsina State Command of the NDLEA has expressed dismay over the involvement of some Fadama farmers in the trial cultivation of Indian hemp.

The state Commander, Alhaji Hamisu Lawan, told newsmen in Katsina that "drug peddling, especially of Indian hemp has taken a more worrisome dimension".

He said that the Fadama farmers involved in trial cultivation of Indian hemp were found in the southern part of the state.

Lawan said the agency had so far arrested four Fadama farmers for cultivating the substance in Dike village, Funtua Local Government area of the state.

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The plight of citizen Yoosu Nyitse, the 82-year-old convict currently languishing at Makurdi Medium Security Prison, has attracted the sympathy of the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC). Nyitse, who is serving a life sentence for selling Indian hemp, was convicted and jailed five years ago by a Federal High Court in Makurdi after confessing to the crime. He has just spent about five years in prison and his state of health is said to be pathetic.

Citizen Yoosu is reportedly paralysed and suffering from acute arthritis. Members of the NHRC who visited the Makurdi Medium Security Prison recently saw the pitiable condition of the old convict.

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Thursday August 2, 2007 would have gone like any other day in the ancient city of Katsina but the normal serenity was broken for a noble cause. The road leading to Jibia, an international border town between Nigeria and Niger Republic was unusually busy. As early as six o'clock in the morning, trucks carrying various sacks were seen plying the road as if it was a neighboring village market day.

One would have thought that the goods belong to traders going to the market in anticipation of jumbo sales, but that thinking was however far from reality. The heavy presence of armed security personnel accompanying the goods may have also betrayed the fact that the goods are the normal market commodities. In fact, it was the evacuation of various narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances from the strong room of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) situated in a popular area called Kofa Kwaya (gate of drugs) in Katsina.

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National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) in Ondo State has destroyed 10 hectares of Indian hemp (Cannabis) in parts of the state.

The farms are located in Ifon and Ala forests in Ose and Akure North local government areas.

The State Commander of NDLEA, Mr Shedow Gaura, told newsmen that four persons were arrested at Ifon with 90 kg of hemp.

He said owners of the farms attacked NDLEA Operatives with guns, charms and other dangerous weapons at Ogbese forest in Akure North Local Government Area two weeks ago.

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Borno National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) Commandant, Wale Ige says lack of operational vehicles and manpower are affecting the agency's performance on border roads.

He told newsmen in Maiduguri that Borno was a "strategic state" where drug trafficking increases on daily basis.

He explained that the trafficking among neighbouring countries of Chad, Niger and Cameroon must be checked.

He noted that the agency could not do its job effectively because it had only one operational vehicle running the borders.

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Nigeria has a lot of problems. And one of these problems is drug trafficking. No year passes without cases of drug trafficking being reported in the country. Meanwhile, the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency in Rivers State has arrested sixty two suspected drug traffickers and seized 291.18 kilogrammes of hard drugs. According to the Assistant State Commander of the Agency, Mr. Adamu Agege, the arrests and seizures were made between January and June 2007. He said that of the sixty two suspects, fifty three were males while nine were females.

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