Chairman of the National Drugs Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), Brig-Gen. Buba Marwa, on Friday revealed that he gets death threats from drug barons on a regular basis.
Addressing State House reporters after a meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, the NDLEA chief said he was not overly concerned even though he was taking precautions as he considered it part of the hazards of the job.
“Severally, it’s almost a daily occurrence, because my phone number is open. Equally, messages come through family, through colleagues, and sometimes people at random who we don’t know but I live in the territory. That said, we also take precautions,” he said.
Asked about his mission at the State House, Marwa said he was there to brief President Buhari on the activities of the agency in recent times, particularly the move to build barracks for its personnel.
He said he was glad that the President responded positively to the initiative.
“Well, the President told us well done. And that well done does not go to Gen. Marwa but the NDLEA officers and men. And if there’s a secret behind it, we thank the Almighty God for the successes recorded so far, and also to the gallant and professional officers and men of the NDLEA who have remained upstanding,” he said.
The NDLEA boss expressed confidence that the pressure from some quarters on the National Assembly to get marijuana legalised in the country will fail.
He said he was confident that more than 90 per cent of the members of the National Assembly will not dare vote in support of legalizing marijuana because they know that their constituents will not take it kindly with them.
He said although those who are pressing for the legalisation of the substance were doing so because of its economic gains, its negative effects far outweigh whatever economic benefits it may have, citing the fact that more than 10 million Nigerians have been captured as users of illicit substances, including marijuana, which he said makes Nigeria the highest user of the substance in the world.
He said: “We can never support legalisation and I don’t see how the National Assembly would pass the Act, because I know 90% or more of the honourable and distinguished members of the National Assembly know the implications of this legalization, and they dare not go back to their constituencies if anyone signs legalisation because we’re seeing the implication on the ground.
