NIGERIA-DRUGS: No ‘Narco Democracy’ Here

By Toye Olori Reprint | | Print |

Toye Olori

LAGOS, Jan 29 1997 (IPS) - Nigeria’s National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has a dream: it aims to bar the route to political office for the drug barons who have earned the West African country a prominent slot on the international narcotics map.

But while some politicians have welcomed its initiative, a few human rights activists argue that the agency is stepping outside its mandate.

NDLEA Chair Gen. Musa Baimayi told journalists here this month that his agency was compiling the names of all drug dealers within the country so as to block their entry into politics as preparations continue for a return to civilian rule.

Nigeria is to have an elected government in October 1998 if the military regime of President Sani Abacha sticks to a transition-to- democracy timetable it has set.

“Any time any of the drug dealers emerge to contest any election, the NDLEA will promptly inform the government that such a person is not fit,” Bamaiyi said. “This is necessary to avoid the mistakes of establishing a narco-democracy, with its narco- mercantilism where drug barons will dictate government and marketing policies.”

Apart from compiling data on local drug dealers, the agency is seeking the assistance of developed nations to give all relevant data and information on Nigerians who traffic in drugs abroad.

This is not the first time that the NDLEA has proposed barring drug lords from politics. In 1995, it made a proposal to that effect to the Abacha government, which has given no indication that it accepted it.

According to Baimayi, the idea is to help sanitise public office and ensure that Nigerians do not end up with drug barons as their leaders. “It will also reduce the likelihood of diluting or throwing out laws aimed at controlling drug trafficking in the country,” he said.

Some human rights advocates here say the NDLEA should not become involved in the transition to democracy.

“There is no need for the NDLEA to become one more agency in the transition programme,” one rights activist who requested anonymity told IPS. “I think the NDLEA is already operating beyond its powers when it begins to play God.”

“I think the NDLEA should forward any information it has to the ministry of justice which should prosecute any individual, be he an ordinary individual or politician. It is absolutely arbitrary for it to pursue this line of action,” he said.

But Abel Ubeku, national chair of the Congress for National Consensus (CNC), feels that the NDLEA is moving in the right direction.

“If the NDLEA says it does not want drug dealers in office, it is very simple: we should thank the agency because there is nowhere in the world that drug barons are allowed to lead a country,” said Ubeku, whose CNC is one of five registered parties in Nigeria.

“I don’t see the agency misusing the position to just disallow people from contesting,” Ubeku told IPS in a telephone interview. “Anyone who is disallowed and knows he or she is not involved in drugs has the right to challenge the decision.”

“We should be behind it (the NDLEA) as it tries to save the image of Nigeria which drug trafficking has so battered,” he added. “Drug barons must not be allowed to be political leaders in Nigeria.”

Gen. Bamaiyi also pointed out that his agency’s action had led to a reduction of more than 85 percent in hard-drug trafficking by Nigerians in 1996. “Cocaine and heroine trafficking have been made unattractive by the activities of the NDLEA forcing more traffickers into cannabis and psychotropic substances trade,” he said.

Out of 1,187 persons arrested last year in Nigeria for dealing in drugs, 1,004 persons (84.58 percent) were booked for marijuana , 66 for heroine, 40 for cocaine and 77 for trafficking in or attempting to import psychotropic substances.

NDLEA data shows that 88 of those arrested were women.

“Though women accounted for only 7.41 percent, they have become as vicious and daring as their male counterparts,” Baimayi said. “Some women, from our own assessment, felt the drug business is a family business so that even when their husbands are in our net, they and their children carry on with this illicit trade.”

Washington still rates Nigeria among the leading sources and transit points for hard drugs. The Nigerian drug authorities feel the United States has not recognised the efforts they made last year and some officials counter that the United States should do more to put its own house in order.

Says Adamu Mohammed, the Nigerian government’s special adviser on drugs and financial crimes: “Washington is not sincere in its dealing with Nigeria on narcotics issues. Since statistics have shown that the U.S is the biggest consumer of hard drugs, it is necessary for that government to come up with a formula on demand reduction.”