DRUG ABUSE: NDLEA CAUTIONS AGAINST CORPORAL PUNISHMENT FOR OFFENDERS
REPORTER: CHINAZO ILECHUKWU
The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) wants communities in the south east to henceforth handover those arrested for substance abuse to the Agency for prosecution instead of subjecting them to corporal punishments.
The Commander of Narcotics NDLEA in Imo State, Mr. Reuben Apeh, made the call at a Town Hall Meeting on National Security Sensitization and Re-orientation against Social Vices organized by the National Orientation Agency (NOA) in Owerri, Imo State.
He said though citizens’ arrest was normal, it was out of place to resort to self-help by flogging or even beating to death of illicit drug users as currently witnessed in some communities, noting that such persons should be transferred to NDLEA for appropriate action.
Mr. Apeh, who was represented by his Deputy, Mr. Dick Sunday expressed worry about the alarming rate of drug abuse in Imo State, noting that the security challenges facing the country was chiefly caused by the use of hard drugs.
“I like to tell the youths, it is better to say YES to life and No to drugs. You see corporal punishments is not the best, you see some of them being flogged, some of them being killed because they have taken”mkpuru mmiri” or “Meth” or “Methamphetamine” or “Crystal meth.
“The best thing is when you arrest such people, you hand them over to authority for appropriate prosecution, you don’t take laws into your hands you don’t do jungle justice,” the NDLEA officer remarked.
The Director National Orientation Agency in Imo State, Mr. Nazzy Njoku, said the event was organized to interrogate some of the issues affecting national security and to sensitize youths to the need to imbibe core national values, noting that feedback generated from the meeting would be transmitted to the government.
Mr. Njoku urged community leaders to rise against the hawkers and consumers of methamphetamine to avert an explosion of mental sickness, especially among the youth.
“We had to summon a Town Hall meeting with a lot of stakeholders and speaking to the youths, speaking to community gatekeepers on the need for a change of attitude, to bring to bare to the youths and people who perpetrate a lot of these crimes that there is need for a change of heart for them to do the right thing,” he said.
A representative of a nongovernmental organization, Mrs. Angela Nkwo-Akpolu, attributed the worrisome record of violence against women and girls in Imo State to substance abuse and called on the state government to assent to the Violent Against Persons Prohibiting Bill to check the crime.
She warned mothers to be more vigilant as there were increasing cases of incestuous rape in parts of the state.
The meeting was attended by youths, security agencies and nongovernmental organizations.