The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency is taking covert steps to monitor specific Nigerian
celebrities moving in and out of the country, Saturday PUNCH has learnt.
Spokesperson for the NDLEA, Mitchell
Ofoyeju, who dropped the hint during a telephone interview with our
correspondent on Thursday, did not reveal the names of such celebrities.
He was reacting to reports that some
people in the entertainment industry find it easy to traffic drugs in
and out of the country.
Ofoyeju said, “We have some people we
are working on but it is not for us to say who is under our
surveillance. The purpose of the investigation will become defeated. We
have some credible leads that we are working on.
“This is not to say the NDLEA is
relaxing its surveillance on ordinary Nigerians or other categories of
travellers to ensure the eradication of drug trafficking in this
country.
“You need to remember that the agency is
an elite organisation that works basically through investigation. We
don’t totally discountenance rumours, but such must have some leads we
can work on.”
Ofoyeju said the increasing successes of
the agency’s war against drug trafficking was the main reason the
United States removed Nigeria’s name from the list of “drug major
states.”
Asked if the renewed focus on
celebrities was a result of the alleged drug ingestion saga involving
Yoruba actor, Babatunde Omidina, popularly called Baba Suwe, Ofoyeju
said the agency had always ensured that no Nigerian was treated as a
“sacred cow” in combating drug trafficking.
He stated, “It is not even about Baba
Suwe. The man was picked because there are no sacred cows. Our effort is
a continuous thing. The issue of being a celebrity does not come in at
all in the fight against drug trafficking.
“Everybody must be subject to the law of
the land. Investigations that have to do with celebrities could take a
long time depending on the mode of operation. It is a gradual process.”
Ofoyeju did not also give the reason for
the choice of particular celebrities under investigation but promised
that the outcome would be made known in due course.
Click to signup for FREE news updates, latest information and hottest gists everyday
Advertise on NigerianEye.com to reach thousands of our daily users
No comments
Post a Comment
Kindly drop a comment below.
(Comments are moderated. Clean comments will be approved immediately)
Advert Enquires - Reach out to us at NigerianEye@gmail.com