The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency has hit back at the senator representing Kwara South Senator, Yisa Ashiru after he accused the agency of being the most corrupt in the country.
Ashiru, on October 15, while contributing to a bill seeking to establish a National Institute for Drug Awareness and Rehabilitation, accused the NDLEA as the most corrupt and compromised government agency in Nigeria.
He added that NDLEA has failed woefully in its mandate.
Reacting to the claims on Monday, the NDLEA spokesperson, Femi Babafemi, said the senator’s comments were borne out of vendetta.
He noted that the senator’s residence in Kwara was raided after intelligence revealed it was being used as a drug joint.
Babafemi added that two of the senator’s aides were arrested during the raid, while one managed to escape.
He said, “For a member of the upper chamber to have made such an unwarranted categorical statement against the agency led us to look inward to see what could have been responsible for such a generalising accusation.
“What we found was shocking, and we concluded that the statement came from a place of vendetta, certainly not out of public interest or any oppressive motive.
“The personal house of the senator in GRA Ilorin, the capital of Kwara State, had been raided in the recent past, where drugs and illicit substances were recovered while two of his aides: Ibrahim Mohammed and Muhammed Yahaya, were arrested based on credible intelligence and surveillance, which confirmed that the senator’s house was being used as a drug joint for dealers and users.”
Babafemi said in another encounter with the senator, intelligence revealed that some of his boys, known as “Omo Senator,” were dealing in illicit drugs in Offa.
He said one Oluwatosin Odepidan was subsequently arrested, and illicit drugs such as methamphetamine and cannabis were recovered from him on June 11, 2023.
“In another encounter with the senator, the agency also received intelligence that some of his boys popularly known as ‘Omo Senator’ operating from his hometown, Offa, were equally dealing in illicit drugs.
