President Muhammadu Buhari has approved the removal of the Chairman of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), Col. Muhammad Mustapha Abdallah (rtd).
Abdallah was appointed on January 12, 2016 by the former Secretary to Government of the Federation (SGF), Engr. Babachir Lawal, via a letter. However, there is disquiet in the para-military agency as the sacked chairman reportedly embarked on a massive recruitment barely 24 hours after he got a letter to handover.
In another letter, dated January 7, 2021 and signed by the Secretary to the Federal Government, Boss Mustapha, Abdallah was mandated to handover to the Secretary of the agency, Shadrach Haruna, on or before January 10, 2021 (today).
It was gathered that Haruna, who was reportedly in the United Kingdom during the notice, had to cut short his trip as he hurriedly returned to Nigeria at the weekend.
The ‘concerned officers’ of the NDLEA, who kicked against the recruitment exercise, equally commended President Buhari for his swift intervention in sacking Col. Abdallah following his dismal performance in the last five years. In a letter addressed to the President at the weekend, the officers condemned the hasty recruitment and called for its cancellation.
The officers are also accusing Abdallah of distorting the seniority list in the agency. According to the aggrieved officers, “It is for the above and many other shortcomings that we are calling for a probe of Abdallah and the appointment of a competent leader to lead the agency on the path of glory; we cannot afford the costly price of another wasted five years”.
The concerned officers had earlier called on the President to investigate and prosecute Abdallah for the alleged diversion of N2.8 billion commanders’ monthly allowances and the revocation of the sale of the Chairman’s official quarters in Ikoyi, which they alleged that he sold.
In a letter addressed to the president by the concerned officers of the agency, signed by one Musa Ahmed Yusuf, the officers accused the outgoing NDLEA boss of diverting N2.8 billion monthly operational allowances for commanders. The petition also said a national survey confirmed a massive scale of Nigeria’s drug problem with no effort by Abdallah to reverse the ugly trend.
The petition further called for the appointment of “a competent chairman appointed to correct the many mistakes of Abdallah and take the agency to greater heights following the expiration of Abdallah’s tenure.
In the meantime, the Attorney-General of the Federation, (AGF) and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami (SAN), has ordered the NDLEA, to suspend its planned screening and documentation exercise for 5,000 new recruits.
While acknowledging that the exercise was long overdue and necessary for the actualisation of the agency’s mandate, Malami said the recruitment should be kept on hold, pending the receipt of clarification/advice from the Presidential Task Force. Abdallah, however, refused to confirm or deny if he got a letter to handover from the presidency, as he refused to respond to phone calls and short messages sent to his mobile number as at press time.
