HURIWA condemns targetted atteacks on NDLEA operatives, calls for public support

Prominent Civil Rights Advocacy Group- HUMAN RIGHTS WRITERS ASSOCIATION OF NIGERIA (HURIWA) has condemned the recent attack on operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency by a Lekki Lagos-based alleged notorious drug dealer, Sowunmi Ayodeji Kayode, who is now on the run after driving his luxury car to crush an NDLEA officer in his bid to escape arrest when operatives were on a search of his house last weekend.

The Rights group wondered why persons suspected to be kingpins of the underworld have upped their sophistication of violent attacks against the operatives of the NDLEA just as the Rights group advocated stringent penalties for such audacious crimes to serve as effective deterrent because if the drug barons know that their deviant actions of attacking NDLEA operatives have consequences, then they will think twice before embarking on such dangerous idiocy.

HURIWA which decried what it calls unprecedented occupational hazards faced by operatives of the NDLEA since the Anti-narcotics Agency upgraded their intensity of aggressive drive against hard drugs in Nigeria with the assumption of office over a year ago of the charismatic Executive Chairman and Chief executive of the body Brigadier General Mohammed Buba-Marwa, asserted that the best way Nigerians can help the great patriotic jobs that the NDLEA is doing, is to support them in whatever way each citizen can, especially by volunteering information on the activities of drug barons and their traffickers so the menace of hard drugs addiction in Nigeria is effectively curtailed.

The Rights group also encouraged the operatives of the NDLEA to continue to give their best in the service of motherland and assure them that millions of law abiding Nigerians are with them and will continue to offer their support in anyway they can to make their enduring jobs of ridding the Country of the hydraheaded monsters of hard drugs phenomenally successful and rewarding. HURIWA commended the hierarchy of the NDLEA for providing effective, efficient and result oriented charismatic leadership.

HURIWA quoting media statement of NDLEA, stated that the Anti-narcotics officers of the Agency had on Friday 18th August stormed the residence of the wanted drug dealer located at 2/3 Adetola Ayeni close, Lekki, Lagos for a search and possible arrest following credible intelligence that he was dealing in illicit drugs in his house.

Continuing, HURIWA further stated that information available to it shows that although the suspected drug baron was not in the house when operatives got into his compound, he however returned while a search of his apartment was ongoing. In a dramatic twist, as soon as he drove into the premises and sighted NDLEA officers, he engaged his car in reverse gear, knocked down one of the officers, pulled down his gate before plunging the vehicle into the fence of the opposite compound. The force of his cars speed also pulled down the concrete wall of his neighbours compound and from there he dived out of the vehicle to escape. A thorough search of his apartment however led to the recovery of 10.5 kilograms of Loud, while the operative knocked down suffered multiple injuries all over his body and compound fracture on his two legs, for which he is currently on hospital admission for treatment. Following the unpleasant development, Chairman/Chief Executive Officer of NDLEA, Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (Retd) has directed the deployment of appropriate operational assets of the Agency to smoke out the wanted suspect from his hiding. He also approved adequate medical care for the injured officer so that he can get back on his feet as soon as possible.”

HURIWA which condemned the audacity of the suspected drug baron to have inflicted this level of violence on the agent of the nation’s Anti-narcotics Agency (NDLEA), however praised the hierarchy of the NDLEA for always providing prompt life saving interventions with a view to protecting and promoting the wellbeing, welfare and safety of their operatives, also asked the alleged drug baron to surrender himself to the authority so he is subjected to a judicial process in compliance with the Principle of Rule of law.