Nigerian artist, Innocent Idibia, popularly known by his stage name 2Baba, has appealed to the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, (NDLEA), to do everything in its power to fight drug abuse in the build-up to the 2023 general election in Nigeria. The musician made this call when he led members of the 2Baba Foundation and a team from the National Democratic Institute (NDI), during a courtesy visit to the Chairman of the NDLEA, Brig. Gen. Buba Marwa Rtd, on Thursday, in Abuja.
2Baba, who doubles as the president of the foundation, said the meeting was part of his foundation’s efforts at promoting peace in the 2023 general elections with its campaign, titled: “Vote, Not Fight; Election No Be War” campaign.
He said: “The primary target of the campaign is the youths and the political class who are majorly the sponsor of this violence.
“We noticed that over the years, when we hear so many reports of violence, one of the major triggers of this violence is drugs. That is one of the reasons why we have come to solicit your support by giving directives to all your commands across the 36 states and FCT to step up.
“Though, we must commend the agency for the work they have been doing so far in apprehending and deterring people from marketing and using drugs. I give you kudos for that. But, we advise you to step it up, especially as the election is around the corner. We are also willing and ready to work with you to spread the campaign.”
On the other hand, Marwa, who was represented by the Secretary of the Agency, Mr. Shadrach Haruna, said the agency is working incessantly to take away illicit drugs from the street and reduce the supply, and consumption in the country.
He said the agency will go all-out to ensure that they do everything in their power to mop out the drug peddlers from the street so that peace and stability will reign in the coming 2023 general election.
In his words, “We are doing our best to ensure that whatever would be part of the process to ensure that there is a peaceful election. We have actually identified three stages for this type of intervention: the first stage is actually the pre-election period. Then, we have the election day and the post-election period.
“Prior to elections, and what we have been doing which we have already sensitised all our commands is to mop the streets of drug miscreants. Indeed, we have seen and you have said it yourself that you’re seeing the wave of what is happening in other big cities where drugs have been stashed and most of them will be used for the election.
“So, then, we are actually removing all the drugs. If you follow the Lagos story, you will know the drugs are being removed and destroyed. And, all these are leading up to the issue we are talking about today, how we can take away drugs from the streets, and it is very important for us now that we have elections coming and that is what we want to really achieve by getting all the drugs anywhere they are and by reducing the supply which will affect consumption.
“This campaign is led by your team will get a lot of attraction and it will also help us in the work we are doing. This is because we need people like you who are influencers to speak with the young ones,” he said.