Yes, condemn me later. But first, hear my lamentation. Hear my tragedy. Hear my national calamity. President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has taken a bold step by reappointing General Mohamed Buba Marwa as Chairman of the NDLEA.
And for this alone, divine punishment is too small!
Before you shout “Blasphemy!” Before you call me a “madman from Usi Ekiti” or an ingrate journalist who is now a lawyer. Let me confess: Marwa was once my benefactor. Yes!
When I was Chairman, Nigerian Union of Journalists (NUJ), Oyo State, I personally appointed him as one of our Patrons. He visited our Iyaganku GRA Secretariat. He sat with us. He supported us, donated generously, and treated us with dignity.
And as if that was not enough, he even gave me free access to Albarkar Airline—his pride and joy. Anywhere I wanted to go in Nigeria, I could travel on that airline free of charge.
God punish whatever witch, wizard, demon, or economic saboteur grounded that glorious airline!
But sentiments do not build nations. Emotions do not shape destiny. And so, though Marwa blessed me personally, and I owe him gratitude, yet he had never wronged me, I must speak the truth on behalf of my association, the Association of Frustrated Drug Lords, Dealers, Pushers, and Barons (AFDLDPB). Because, honestly, President Tinubu has harmed us beyond repair.
He has committed a national evil. He has stabbed us in the heart and buried us alive.
You think I’m joking? Let me tell you the tragedy. The moment Marwa entered NDLEA, our business died. He didn’t fight drugs—HE FOUGHT US! Marwa turned our sweet trade into a desert of suffering.
Before he came, we were flourishing like palm trees planted by rivers of cocaine. Customs were sleeping. Immigration was laughing. NDLEA was yawning. Our bags were moving. Our parcels were flying. Our containers were landing.
Then this man came—this anti-barons angel, this drug-hating general, this destroyer of empires, this demolisher of cartels.
He seized our cocaine worth N276 billion in Ikorodu.
Do you know how many families that money could have fed? (Drug families! Drug children! Drug communities!)
He arrested those foreign partners we had groomed for years. Venezuelans! Brazilians! Jamaicans! International investors! All gone!
He seized another one-tonne cocaine shipment at Tincan Port worth N338 billion. Imagine! We planned to use that money to install governors and senators. Now? Marwa ruined everything.
He arrested our oga, the legendary fugitive, the man of timber and calibre—Ogbonnaya Kevin Jeff—a man we were chasing for 17 years, not to arrest but to make him the chairman of our syndicate. Marwa spoilt it.
He captured Mushin’s iron lord Temo, the man whose mortal hands could not arrest.
But Marwa is not mortal—he is NDLEA incarnate. He destroyed over 1,000 hectares of our cannabis farms.
Do you know how much we invested in fertilisers, seeds, irrigation, and juju? He dismantled meth labs. He ruined our export routes and chased us from airports. He monitored our seaports and patrolled our warehouses. He haunted our dreams.
Some of us now suffer from hypertension. Some relocated to Ghana and the Republic of Benin. Some are now selling sachet water.
And now—as if he has not finished us—President Tinubu has reappointed him. This is wickedness and cruelty! This is persecution of our industry; the end of our hopes!
Marwa’s WADA Campaign? It is our death sentence!
He has rehabilitated almost 30,000 drug users. Do you know what that means? That is 30,000 loyal customers LOST! They were converted to responsible citizens and saints!
This is economic sabotage of the drug sector!
Marwa has destroyed our source of income more than inflation, recession, CBN policies, or border closures.
His prosecution and conviction rates? A curse! Over 9,200 convictions? What kind of human being convicts this many people? Does he not know that many of them are breadwinners? Criminal breadwinners, yes—but breadwinners nonetheless!
Marwa is not just fighting drugs; he is fighting our entire economic ecosystem. No wonder Shakespeare warned, “The evil that men do lives after them.” But in this case, the evil that Marwa does is killing only us—the good citizens of the drug trade!
And Tinubu? God will ask him! Why reappoint a man who is wiping out an entire industry? Why bring back the destroyer of cartels? Why retain the general who has reduced drug trafficking to prison statistics and ashes? Does he not care about us? Does he not have mercy? Does he not fear God?
With this reappointment, we will soon be out of business permanently. Marwa will finish what he started. We will be extinct like dinosaurs.
Oh, President Tinubu, why have you done this to us? Why have you allowed righteousness to prevail? Why have you empowered the greatest drug czar Nigeria has ever produced?
Verily, I say unto you: God will punish you for this good deed! Because this good deed is bad business for us.
As Oscar Wilde said, “No good deed goes unpunished.”
Mr President, your good deed to Nigeria is a punishment to us. And God will reward you with more punishment for punishing us with Marwa.
Conclusion? Our doom has come. General Marwa is back. NDLEA is back. The war is back. Our nightmares are back. Nigeria will be drug-free. Nigeria will be sane. Nigeria will be safe. Nigeria will be protected.
But for us—the noble drug dealers—Armageddon has arrived. Marwa has returned. And our business has died. Our days in Nigeria are numbered. Our deeds and acts will soon go into extinction just because our albatross and nemesis is back to the office. Wallahi tallahi!
God punish President Bola Ahmed Tinubu for this move to extirpate us. Say Amen now!
*Bar. Ojo-Lanre wrote from Ekiti
