Dilemma of drug fighters as Yobe leads in addiction

However, officials of the agency had remained helpless in their effort to curtail the menace because of many factors including lack of working equipment and rehabilitation centre where ex-drug addicts could be re-integrated into the society among other logistics. Yobe State Commander of the Agency, Mr Akingbade Bamidele recently said drug business was being perpetrated […]

However, officials of the agency had remained helpless in their effort to curtail the menace because of many factors including lack of working equipment and rehabilitation centre where ex-drug addicts could be re-integrated into the society among other logistics.

Yobe State Commander of the Agency, Mr Akingbade Bamidele recently said drug business was being perpetrated in the open in the state even though his men had been doing everything possible to arrest the situation.

He observed that with a population of over 2.3 million people in which youths were the majority, the situation might spell doom to the social and economic development of the state if left unchecked as according to him, “youth are the bedrock of any meaningful development”.  He lamented that many youths in the state had left school and other positive endeavours because of the influence of the drugs.

He said the NDLEA recently arrested 77 persons for various drug law offences in Yobe State, adding that among the suspects was an alleged armed robber, Abubakar Musa popularly known as Drogba because of his drug trafficking skills.

The commandant said Drogba would be handed over to the police soon. He said of those arrested, cases against 35 of them had been established with three sent to 15 years jail term and others with jail terms ranging from 1 to 3 years.

“When you look at the situation in which over 80 per cent of the youth are into drugs related issues, it is a serious issue of concern”, he said.

He said one Oke from Delta State, who lives in Jos Plateau State was the major supplier of Indian hemp among other substances in Damaturu and that further investigations had shown that Auwalu Hussaini and one other Al-Hassan were the contacts in the state for Oke.

The commandant said the Yobe State agency had contacted its sister commands in other states and steps have been taken to arrest the suspects. He said one major achievement of the agency was that it cut-off the drug supply chain through Oke and others who were on the run but was quick to add that the situation might aggravate soon unless the state government intervened.

“What is happening in Yobe State is sad because youths have been found consuming India hemp, tramor or dipping their heads into pit toilets or dirty drainages just to get intoxicated”, the commandant lamented.

According to him, Damaturu Monday Market and a place known as Kampala in Potiskum were the usual markets for the drug dealers.

The commandant recalled that a dealer Abubakar Musa was also chased to his house in one of the housing estates in Damaturu where it was discovered that drugs were hidden inside the roof of the house he was occupying without the knowledge of the state government.

“During the chase, the suspect was found to have locked up his wife and child in one of the rooms, before he took-off into the ceiling but we were able to apprehend him”, the commandant said.

In all these feats, Bamidele said his personnel had been working in difficulties and risks even as they are ready to clear the state of the drug traffickers.

The commander lamented that his command had only one operational vehicle which was being used for administrative work and patrol. “I feel this is grossly inadequate for a state command to combat crime”, he observed.

According to him the major factor responsible for   the increase in the drug addiction in the state was the  lack of support to fight drug addiction by the state  government.“ We are presently operating in two office rooms  under a tree, with  no big cell and vehicles, it is sad that  state government cannot give us an office,’’ Bamidele  Said.

He therefore called on the state government to assist the agency with operational vehicles for the combing of all black spots in the state.

He said the agency also needed at least half a million naira to feed and cater for suspects in the NDLEA custody, adding that the cost of conveying them to  Maiduguri for prosecution in the Federal High Court was another big problem for the agency. “We find difficulties in handling their cases, the state government needs to complement the efforts of our national headquarters”, he said.

He said the agency had made several appeals to the state government to build a reformative centre for proper counselling of the drug suspects including providing a befitting office accommodation to the agency. “Many youths get back to the old trade after their jail terms because they have nowhere to go. We believe the reformative centre would change them and make them good citizens”, he assured.

He said that the recent survey conducted by the NDLEA   revealed that 80 per cent of the total population of Youth in the state were drug addicts, while five per cent of the adult population were involved in drug dealership.

 “ In fact in every group of 10 youth, 8 are engaged in the consumption of different illicit drugs,’’ he noted.

He said that the major dealers of drugs from south and north took advantage of implementation of Shari’a that banned the open sales of alcohol in the state to sell drugs to the Youth through agents.

“Because of the introduction of the Shari’a which bans sales and consumption of alcohol in the open, illicit drugs have remained the only option for the youth”, he said.

The Chief Imam of Damaturu recently corroborated the presentation of the NDLEA commandant when he devoted a whole Juma’at sermon to the issue of drug addiction and how it caused “confusion, moral decadence and lawlessness in Yobe”.

“It is very sad that Yobe which prides itself as one of those practising Shari’a  legal system  is found in this doldrums, government must act accordingly to arrest the situation”, the Imam said.