All presidential aspirants including Vice President Yemi Osinbajo; former governor of Lagos state, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu; former vice president of Nigeria, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar; Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers and all other politicians vying for Nigeria’s presidency are expected to undergo a drug integrity tests, the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has insisted.
This is as the Chairman and Chief Executive of the NDLEA, Brig-Gen Buba Marwa (rtd), disclosed that all politicians aspiring for political offices in 2023 will be made to undergo drug integrity tests in a bid to rid the country of drug use among high profile citizens.
The Chairman while speaking during the 1st quarter award ceremony of the agency, said he has already written to the Chairman of the All Progressive Congress APC, Sen Abdullahi Adamu, requesting that officials of the NDLEA be given access to conduct drugs integrity tests on politicians aspiring for political offices on the platform of the party.
According to Marwa, aspirants under the platform of the PDP will also be made to face the same examination.
The NDLEA boss explained that the drugs test is necessary to ensure that politicians vested with important national offices do not use budgetary allocations to go and buy cocaine or Methamphetamine instead of providing needed services for the masses.
In his words: “For politicians, we have long advocated and I take the opportunity again to repeat the advocacy that when they run for public office it demands a lot of responsibility from the person and we need to be certain if he’s a person that is already a drug addict/user who will spend all the money he’s given for public service to consume cocaine and his head will not be in a stable condition to handle the affairs he has been entrusted with.
“For this reason, we have advocated and will continue to advocate that drug test be conducted for politicians; some state governments like Kano State is already doing this.
“Not just politicians, but government appointees, and I’ve just sent a letter this morning to the National Chairman of APC, who will be the first of the national working committee I wish to pay an advocacy visit on this issue.”
