DRUG ABUSE: Asagba Prof Azinge Threatens to Sanction Any Sufficiently Implicated Asaba Title Holder

Any Asaba title holder sufficiently considered to be involved in drug abuse, with evidence to show, will be stripped of the title.

The Asagba of Asaba, His Royal Majesty, Prof Epiphany Azinge, SAN, OON, made the pronouncement while playing host to the State Commander of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), Halilu Hamidu, who paid him a courtesy visit.

Asagba Prof Azinge said Asaba people, on their own accord and initiative, recently rose to see how they could cleanse the community of drug peddlers, barons and addicts.

According to the monarch, “It was a well orchestrated and well planned undertaking which yielded a lot of positive results. I can say without equivocation now that as far as drug abuse is concerned, the whole town is very very quiet. And that’s flowing from the efforts of the community on their own. 

“We just didn’t stop there, we followed it up. I had to make a pronouncement from the throne that any Asaba titled man that is sufficiently considered to be, and that will be evidence-based, involved in drug trafficking will be stripped off his title and, if need be, made to go through the process all over again.

“We have never said such before; we have never done it. It shows how concerned we are, and how determined and resolute we are to frontally combat the menace”.

He described as unfortunate the absence of the Agency’s office in Asaba, pointing out that he had earlier taken the issue up with the immediate past State Commander, who was also courageous enough to tell the Governor, at a meeting in Government House, that he, the Asagba, had raised the issue with him.

While insisting that NDLEA having its office in Asaba was not negotiable, the highly revered traditional ruler told his guest that the Chairman of Oshimili South Local Government Council, Dr. Obi Kelvin Ezenyili, had publicly announced that he would provide an office space for the Agency at the Council’s Secretariat, expressing the hope that the promise would be fulfilled in the shortest possible time so that the Agency could be in a better position to proactively deliver on its mandate.

“State Commander, there is no smoke without fire and there is no rumour without an iota of truth. Our people have said it repeatedly, and I am tempted to imagine that there is some elements of truth in it. And even some of the people arrested seem to have alluded to the fact as well, that security agencies seem to compromise, and to an extent we can even say that they are a little bit complicit in what is going on around us.

“Today, you are starting on a clean slate and I want you to take that seriously into consideration. But we as a people are not prepared to gloss over anything of that nature. We are talking about something affecting the life of members of this community, and our interest in the life of our people is uppermost in our minds. So I want you to take that to heart as you start your journey as State Commander of Delta State”, Asagba Prof Azinge said.

Earlier in his remarks, the NDLEA State Commander, Halilu Hamidu, a Commander of Narcotics (CN), said the visit was to familiarize with the Asagba, whom he described as a renowned Professor of Law, and to acquaint the monarch with the challenges facing the Agency. 

CN Hamidu said the location of the Agency’s headquarters in Ogwashi-Uku, instead of the state capital, Asaba, was a major challenge militating against quick response to the fight against drug abuse, even with a workforce of over 270 officers and their readiness to work towards achieving a drug-free Delta.

He identified the proximity of Asaba to Onitsha as a factor responsible for the availability of large quantities of prohibited tablets in the town, disclosing that he had visited some black spots within the state capital territory to assess the drug situation and map out strategies on how to deal with the situation.

The Commander, while commending the Asagba for the much he had done to remedy the situation in Asaba since ascending the throne, urged him to intervene in finding solutions to the logistics problems of the Agency, even as he solicited the involvement of all in the fight against drugs.