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. READ MORE: http://news.naij.com/42374.html
READ MORE: http://news.naij.com/42374.html
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