An investigation by SaharaReporters has revealed what one insider called an increasing boom in Nigeria’s hard drug business, with serious lapses in the prosecution of suspects. “It is well known that a cartel operates within the courts, the prisons and at the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency to assist drug convicts to evade jail terms,” said a judicial source who spoke extensively on the issue.
An investigation by SaharaReporters has revealed what one insider called an increasing boom in Nigeria’s hard drug business, with serious lapses in the prosecution of suspects. “It is well known that a cartel operates within the courts, the prisons and at the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency to assist drug convicts to evade jail terms,” said a judicial source who spoke extensively on the issue.
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Recent media exposure of the activities of the cartel led to the inauguration of a panel headed by Justice Gilbert Obanya and charged with examining the activities of the anti-drug agency. However, a source said the cartel succeeded in killing the report of the Obanya panel, using contacts in high places.
Emboldened by the ease with which they squelched the Obanya report, Nigeria’s major drug barons have devised new strategies to get away with their crimes. They have used a combination of bribes, blackmail and threats to frustrate their prosecution and avoid jail terms.
The crisis was dramatized when Justice Ibrahim N. Buba of the Federal High Court, Lagos, assumed duties in 2012. The judge was shocked to discover that more than one hundred accused drug barons granted bail on liberal terms by Justice Liman had jumped bail. Our investigation revealed that the situation was the same in several other courts.
Upset by the situation, the judge has repeatedly scolded the NDLEA in court. He has also issued several orders to the agency to re-arrest suspects, but to no avail.
“The latest tactics by these big shot drug dealers is to contract special defense lawyers to handle their cases,” said another source within the judiciary. He added: “These big name lawyers know the judges who are favorable and those that are tough. They then use dubious court officials to manipulate and make sure that their client’s case is assigned to a favorable court.”
According to our sources, the notorious judges then grant bail to the suspects on liberal terms, with the stipulation that the NDLEA must verify the sureties. “Within the NDLEA organization, the job of verifying sureties is done by the same group of people who would endorse any arrangement made by the defense lawyers,” one source said. He said such arrangements enabled drug barons to continue to thrive.
Another source confirmed the scenario. He added that Justice Buba’s no-nonsense approach changed the game and made life tough for drug crime bosses.
“Now, the Honorable Justice Buba’s court is avoided by defense counsel like the plague,” he said.
Two sources inside the NDLEA accused the agency’s chairman, Amadu Giade, of failed leadership. One source said Mr. Giade was indifferent to the acts of corruption and collusion with drug dealers that go on inside the agency. “He appears to take pleasure only in attending international meetings,” said one source. “He has turned a blind eye to the state of affairs at the NDLEA.”
The other NDLEA source claimed that Mr. Giade has come up with no response to the problems at the agency because of sheer incompetence. “The fact of the matter is that, until a competent, knowledgeable and highly disciplined appointee is brought in, the drug war will continue to be a sham,” said the source.
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