‘SPONSOR A BILL RATHER THAN RESORT TO ABUSE,' NDLEA COMMANDER FIRES BACK AT SOWORE OVER CANNABIS FARM DESTRUCTION CRITICISM. (PHOTO)

‘Sponsor A Bill Rather Than Resort to Abuse,' NDLEA Commander Fires Back at Sowore Over Cannabis Farm Destruction Criticism

The Commander of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) in Ogun State, CN Tijjani Rabe, has strongly responded to criticism from human rights activist and African Action Congress (AAC) presidential candidate Omoyele Sowore over the agency’s anti-drug operations.

Rabe asserted that leadership cannot be built on insults directed at institutions that “sacrifice daily for this country.”

Sowore had, in a post on X on Tuesday, faulted the NDLEA for destroying cannabis farms, describing the crop as economically viable. He called on the government to legalise and regulate its cultivation to harness medicinal and industrial potential rather than destroy it.

“It is idiotic @ndlea_nigeria wake up, put on uniforms, march into farms, and set economically viable crops worth millions of dollars ablaze while your country is drowning in multidimensional poverty,” Sowore wrote. “Stop destroying cannabis farms. Stop wasting enormous economic opportunities in the name of a failed and outdated policy.”

In a statement on Wednesday, Rabe noted that while Sowore labelled the agency foolish, Nigerians are witnesses to the NDLEA’s record over the past five years. He said the agency has recorded monumental seizures of illicit drugs and prevented tons from reaching homes, schools, barracks and motor parks.

“NDLEA did not wake up and decide to set farms ablaze for sport. We act on a clear mandate given to us by the laws of the Federal Republic of Nigeria,” Rabe stated. “You cannot seek to be Commander-in-Chief and in the same breath denigrate the men and women who serve under that command.”

Beyond enforcement, Rabe said the NDLEA has counselled and rehabilitated thousands of young Nigerians and dismantled transnational cartels that fund kidnapping, banditry and arms trafficking with proceeds from drugs.

He argued that if Sowore disagrees with the law, the democratic path is to sponsor a bill to change it rather than resort to abuse.

“If you disagree with the law, the democratic path is to sponsor a bill to change it. Not to resort to abuse. NDLEA, and indeed all law enforcement agencies, deserve better, especially from those who aspire to lead,” he said.

Rabe acknowledged Nigeria’s poverty challenges but stressed that the country is also grappling with addiction, mental illness and insecurity worsened by illicit drugs. “We cannot solve one crisis by deepening another,” he said.

He warned that legalisation without strong guardrails, proper tracking, prescription monitoring, laboratories and rehabilitation centres would only expand the black market. Citing Canada as an example, he noted that even years after legalisation, the country continues to battle a thriving illicit market.

With Nigeria’s current regulatory capacity, Rabe said the situation would be far worse. He added that many of the “economically viable farms” referenced by Sowore are controlled by armed networks linked to trafficking and violence.

“To legalize now is to hand legitimacy to those same networks. You do not defeat poverty by empowering cartels,” the NDLEA commander said.

He maintained that the government should first fund laboratories, rehabilitation centres and cooperatives to make any future cannabis industry safe and sustainable.

“Until that foundation exists, NDLEA will continue to do what the law demands of us: interdict, destroy, and save lives. That is not ‘idiotic’, Sir. That is duty,” Rabe declared.

While the agency would excuse the tone of the criticism, he expressed gratitude to the millions of Nigerians who support its work.