I was in deep conversations with stakeholders in the organised
civil Rights community in the Country on the revelation that was made by the
then Anambra State’s governor-elect Professor Chukwuma Soludo shortly after he
emerged as the successor in office of the immediate past Chief executive of
that state that drug barons have captured political powers in Nigeria.
The erudite Professor of Banking and Finance then proceeded at
length to offer profound exposition of his claim. As we progress we will cite
his assertion in full.
It was in that same period that the Chief executive officer of the National Drugs Laws Enforcement Agency, Brigadier General Mohammed Buba Marwa, hinted that the agency may conduct drug tests on politicians aspiring for political offices.
As stated, the then governor-elect of Anambra State, Chukwuma
Soludo, said politics has become a big business in Nigeria, adding that many
drug barons and internet scammers have flocked into politics to avoid being
arrested.
Soludo, an ex-governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria who won the
November 6, 2021 Anambra governorship election on the platform of the All
Progressives Grand Alliance made this claim.
He spoke on ‘The Purpose and
Price of Disruptive Change’ at the first graduation of the School of Politics,
Policy and Governance Pioneer in Abuja. The school was founded by former
Minister of Education, Oby Ezekwesili.
Soludo said, “Indeed, Africa needs a new liberation movement. The
first struggle was liberation from the colonial masters. The second will be
liberation from rentier politics and politicians. For me, there is almost a
sense of nostalgia, recalling the mission and accomplishments of our founding
fathers, especially as we contemplate the world without oil in Nigeria.
“Much of the existing social order is founded on competition for,
and distribution of, rents. Oil and the easy money that came with it destroyed
the social fabric and the elite created new institutions and political
structures to maximize their gains. As the noose tightened globally on other
rentier/criminal enterprises such as drug trafficking or internet scamming,
many of the barons flocked into politics as the next easy alternative.
“Politics has become big business. Appointment or election into
public office is seen largely as an opportunity to ‘eat’ rather than a call to
selfless service. There is an army of rich (big men) who have never worked or
done any productive work in their life and believe that it is their right to
expect something for nothing.
“The tiny less than one per cent elite have a stranglehold on the
public purse, sprinkling occasional crumbs to the citizens as ‘dividends of
democracy’. The citizens themselves either out of helplessness or acquiescence
join the party, expecting the politicians to dole out pittance out of the
public treasury as charity.”
According to the governor-elect who assumed office in March,
Nigeria is now at a fiscal cliff with a crunching solvency challenge.
“Youth unemployment, insecurity, poverty, inflation, etc threaten
the social fabric. Migrating to a post-oil world of 4th Industrial revolution
and sustainable prosperity will require massive disruptive transformations and
restoration of a productive social contract.
“Such disruptions will come at great costs, and could indeed be
dangerous.
“Fixing politics requires talent and skills. But these won’t be
enough. It won’t happen by lone wolves working in silos. It requires new
developmental organisations – organisations/teams of believers, driven by
defined ideology, purpose and character,” he submitted. The hierarchy of the
NDLEA coincidentally also said hard drugs could pose a challenge to transparent
and peaceful general elections next year.
Determined to rid politics of all influences of hard drugs, the
National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, a few weeks back, called on political
parties to make drug integrity tests part of the screening requirements for
aspirants seeking to contest political offices in the 2023 general elections, a
move that was endorsed by the Nigerian Medical Association.
The Chairman of the NDLEA, Brigadier-General Buba Marwa (retd.),
stated this at the 2022 First Quarter Best Performing Commands Awards ceremony
which was held in Abuja.
While the NMA supported the move, the Nigerian Bar Association
advised the agency to approach the National Assembly for legal backing for the
drug test.
But Marwa said he had written a letter to the National Chairman of
the ruling All Progressives Congress, Senator Abdullahi Adamu; and would be
writing to the Peoples Democratic Party along with 16 other political parties.
He said, “For politicians, we have long advocated and I take the
opportunity again to repeat the advocacy that when they run for public office
it demands a lot of responsibility from the person and we need to be certain if
he’s a person that is already a drug addict/user who will spend all the money
he’s given for public service to consume cocaine and his head will not be in a
stable condition to handle the affairs he has been entrusted with.
“For this reason, we have advocated and will continue to advocate
that drug tests be conducted for politicians; some state governments like Kano
State are already doing this.
“Not just politicians, but government appointees, and I’ve just
sent a letter this morning to the national chairman of the APC, who will be the
first of the National Working Committee I wish to pay an advocacy visit on this
issue.
“I recommended that drug tests be incorporated in the screening
process for all those interested in running for public office; we’ll do the
same to the PDP and other important parties.”
Supporting the NDLEA’s proposal, the NMA National President, Prof
Innocent Ujah, told The PUNCH that the use of drugs by politicians would affect
governance.
Ujah stated, “There are schools doing drug tests for their
students. Are you aware? There is a reason for that. Health is the state of
physical mental and social well-being and not necessarily the absence of
disease
“So obviously if a person takes drugs is the person in a good
state of mind to govern Nigeria? It is a health issue, it also affects
governance but I don’t expect anyone governing Nigeria to be on drugs but it is
a possibility.
“The NMA will not have any objection to that. Even if not for
politics, we want to ensure that everyone is in the correct state of mind. As a
doctor, we do clinical examinations for fitness for instance.”
However, the NBA said the drug test could only be enforced if it
had legal backing. It, therefore, advised the NDLEA to submit a bill seeking to
make the test mandatory.
Also many senior advocates faulted the move, insisting that
Nigerian law made no such requirement for political aspirants.
The NBA Spokesman Rapuluchukwu Nduka, in an interview with The
PUNCH, said, “I don’t think there is any law in that regard. But when you look
at the kind of leaders and leadership we have in this country, it may make
sense to actually ask the people who want to take up positions to do some drug
tests.
“For me, it may not even just stop at drug tests, they may also
need to do some tests to check their mental capacity and certain other things
about their health. But apart from that, until a law is passed to that effect,
the NDLEA can only suggest while parties can make it part of their policy. So,
aspirants can’t be forced to do drug tests because they want to run for
political office.”
When asked if an aspirant could be disqualified for failing to
present himself for drug tests, the NBA spokesman responded in the affirmative.
“For a person to present himself for election, he must have gone
through the party’s structure before the party allows him to run for election.
So, if the party makes it part of their rules, that if you don’t present
yourself for drug tests you can’t be given a ticket, then that will become a
party thing.
“So, any person who decides to run on the party’s platform will
now abide by the dictates of the party. I think that’s how it can be done if we
are serious about it.
“It’s a proposal not backed by law. They may go on and ask the
National Assembly to pass a law to that effect.”
A senior advocate of Nigeria Kunle Adegoke, faulted the request
made by the NDLEA.
Adegoke said the grounds of disqualification for political holders
in the constitution did not include assessing the mental state of aspirants.
He said, “From my perspective, while it is not ridiculous that
many people occupying political offices in Nigeria should have their mental
condition checked, at the same time there is no such prescription in the law
that anybody who is vying for political office must be certified to be mentally
alright.
“And as far as it is not a requirement of the law, the only
conditions of disqualifications are already stipulated and they do not include
having to certify someone as mentally alright or drug-free before he can run
for an election.”
Also a human rights lawyer, Ebun Olu-Adegboruwa (SAN), said the
NDLEA had no powers to make such a request.
He said, “That request is unconstitutional, it is ultra vires and
beyond his powers as the chairman of the NDLEA. The NDLEA should engage itself
within the ambit of the exercise of the powers conferred on it by its laws;
that is to go round the country and rid our land of drugs and narcotics.
“People are hawking illicit drugs openly on the streets, morning,
afternoon and night. The attempt to politicise the NDLEA is unbecoming, it is
totally condemnable. The chairman should not politicise the NDLEA, he should
focus himself on the statutory responsibilities and he has no power to add to
the requirement created by the constitution.”
Adegboruwa added that the constitutions of the country and that of
political parties had guidelines and stipulated the qualifications of political
candidates and this should remain the minimum standard.
The senior advocate added that if there would be a need for drug
tests, it should be carried out on existing public service holders.
“If anybody is to be tested at all, it should be those who have
won elections, the people who are currently serving. For us to determine why
people loot money, why people do the things they do after they have won
elections; those who are in office, the ministers, governors and others,” he
added.
Also, a former President of the NBA Chief Wole Olanipekun (SAN),
said that he did not agree with the NDLEA adding that the agency needed to
follow the constitution and the laws that govern the land.
He said, “The law is there, the constitution is there, the
constitutions of the political parties are there. If they are qualified, let
them go and contest their primary elections. It is not even within the power or
jurisdiction of the NDLEA to add to the constitution. The constitution is
clear. What are the qualifications for contesting elections? Is drug usage or
pushing part of it?”
Olanipekun lamented that it was sad that the NDLEA was beginning
to trivialise issues despite the enormous problems the country was faced with.
He added, “We have a lot of problems facing us in the country, there
are a lot of problems. The NDLEA is trivialising a lot of things; they are
making Nigeria, a laughing stock. This is not the way it should go.
“If you suspect anyone of being a drug addict or drug pusher, you
know what to do. But what’s the meaning of aspirants subjecting themselves to
drug tests? Why not tell them to subject themselves to mental tests and every
other test? Why the drug test?”
The senior advocate said those holding public offices are the ones
that should be subjected to drug tests, not aspirants.
Another senior advocate, Chief Mike Ozekhome, said the request of
the NDLEA, though appealing, ought to be interrogated within the parameters of
the constitution.
Ozekhome added, “The NDLEA Act and the constitutions of political
parties have to be carefully read to ascertain if both institutions possess
such enormous powers to screen aspirants by subjecting them to the inhuman and
degrading test to ascertain if they take drugs.
“This is more so having regard to the fact that the constitution
and the Electoral Act have both comprehensively and exhaustively legislated on
qualifying and disqualifying factors that can prevent an aspirant from
contesting to become a candidate, and for a candidate to contest in the general
elections.”
Also reacting to the issue, Mr. Ifedayo Adedipe (SAN), said the
NDLEA had no such right, adding that Nigerian law already lists the conditions
aspirants must meet.
He asked the NDLEA to focus on drug barons and abusers of drugs in
the country.
“If anyone wants to contest elections there are conditions listed
by the constitution. You can’t add another condition until you amend the
constitution. How do you even detect somebody is on drugs?
“If somebody is on drugs and he knows he will be tested, he will
withdraw his intake for a certain number of days and you’ll have nothing on
him. Then he could go back when he becomes elected,” Adedipe stated.
Amidst these opposing and divergent views the famous civil Rights Advocacy Group – HUMAN RIGHTS WRITERS ASSOCIATION OF NIGERIA (HURIWA) has made the issue of possible influence of hard drugs to next year’s poll the centrepiece of her 15th year anniversary on August 25th 2022. Many scholars are pleased with this thematic area tabled for debates. The Catholic Bishop of Sokoto diocese Most Reverend Doctor Mathew Hassan Kukah when asked if he will be joining HURIWA on August 25th 2022 to debate this all important topic felt happy that the group is up and doing with the advocacy campaigns against human rights abuses.
In congratulating the Human Rights Writers Association (HURIWA)
for our consistency in the past 15 years in drawing the nation’s attention to
issues that will strengthen democracy, stabilize the country, and ensure
development, the Bishop of Sokoto diocese wished us well. This year, HURIWA’s
choice of theme for its 15th Annual programme is again apt, as it examines How
Drugs Fuel Election Violence in Nigeria.
The 2023 General Election means a lot to the Nigerian nation and
to Nigerians. If not for anything, it would mean yet another transition from
one government to another in the current democratic dispensation. So, all
forces that will create hurdles for the process or taint the outcome must be
identified and addressed in good time, and election violence is certainly one.
There is no doubt that there exists a very strong correlation
between drug and substance abuse and violence, particularly election violence.
The nexus between drugs and election violence can easily be established when
one considers what hard drugs do to the human mind under circumstances.
Substance abuse has been associated with violent behaviour for
many decades. While the relationship is much the same today as it was in the
past, the pervasiveness of the association, and the consequences, are more
dramatic in recent times with new and more psychedelic drugs emerging on the
scene. There are two ways in which substance abuse is related to violence.
First, violence can be and is perpetrated under the influence of substances,
and second, violence related to substance abuse stems from pressure to keep the
lifestyle.
In politics and particularly with elections, the drug
abuse-violence nexus presents itself in several distinctly different facets:
drugs of abuse may act on brain mechanisms that cause a high-risk individual to
engage in aggressive and violent behavior to help a candidate secure victory at
all costs. Alcohol, marijuana, narcotics, hallucinogens, and psychomotor
stimulants differ substantially from each other but are also related to
different kinds of violent and aggressive behaviour, especially where it comes
to elections.
Generally, the linkage of drugs of abuse, and violence exist in
the many direct and indirect levels of interaction. These range from (1) drugs
activating aggression-specific brain mechanisms, through (2) drugs acting as
licensure for violent and aggressive behavior, as well as (3) drugs as
commodities in an illegal distribution system that relies upon violent
enforcement tactics, to (4) violent behavior representing one of the means by
which a drug habit is maintained.
The strong statistical association between drug and engaging in a
violent or aggressive act or being the target of violent behavior prompts the
identification of possible causal relationships. Though I am not a medical
doctor, conventional wisdom and common sense tell us that effects of drugs
release aggressive impulses to body mechanisms.
Permit me to also observe that of all hard drugs associated with
violence at elections, alcohol and marijuana stand out as the drugs that are
most consistently and seriously linked to many types of aggressive and violent
behavior and therefore play a major role in election violence. And because the
violent act is paid for by the politicians who procure them, election violence
in the context of hard drug abuse is instrumental in securing the resources to
maintain the drug habit and in interacting with drug dealers.
It must also be admitted that hard drugs are not magical drugs.
They do not magically produce violent, assaultive, or criminal behaviours.
Generally, personality predispositions and a history of violent behaviour
appear to determine whether or not hard drug intoxication will lead to
violence. However, drugs remain a very strong disposing factor in election
violence.
As already indicated, drugs of abuse do not engender violent
behaviour in every individual, and some imbibe alcoholic beverages or
self-administer drugs without becoming violent. However, this category is not our
cause for concern.
There are modulating influences of learning, social modeling, or
parental physical abuse on drug action, and aggressive behaviour and impulse
control. Research evidence points to the fact that drug action on the brain
mechanisms for aggressive behavior is modulated by genetic predispositions,
learned expectations, social restraints, and cultural habits. This implicates
poor parental control and a terrible upbringing.
I also want to say that it is drugs that establish the symbiotic
relationship between politicians and political thugs who perpetrate violence at
elections. A thug sustains his personality as one through acts of violence and
aggression, which the politician relies upon to intimidate and sometimes,
eliminate his opponents. Snatching ballot boxes and election materials against
the odds are extremely violent conducts that often require the aid of drugs.
One thing is however certain: alcohol, marijuana, opiates,
cocaine, amphetamines, PCP, LSD, or other hallucinogens promote violent and
aggressive behavior by acting on the individual’s conditions at the time of the
violent act and this also includes election violence.
The election period is a time politicians of different political
parties with different ideologies jostle with one aim; to acquire power.
Unfortunately however, politicians see anything that is standing between them
and acquiring power as an enemy which must be dealt at all cost. Rather than
engaging in contestations of ideas, many politicians usually make use of techniques
like intimidation, blackmail, and violence and deploy political thugs to these
ends.
To achieve this, politicians enlist the services of political
thugs who almost without exception are hard drug users and abusers, many of
whom are addicts with persisting distorted perception of reality. Not fully
aware of the dangers of what he/she is getting into, the drug addict is often
prone to aggression on the slightest provocation.
It is all about hard drug abusers and the politicians who deploy
them. Clinically known as substance use disorder, drug abuse or addiction is
caused by the habitual taking of addictive substances. Drugs include alcohol,
marijuana, hallucinogens and opioids. Substance use disorder is a disease,
causing people to compulsively use drugs despite consequences. What is more,
they need lots of money to sustain the drug use and abuse and election violence
funds the habit through the said symbiotic relationship between the politicians
and the political thug. As we say in Nigerian parlance, you rub my back, I rub
your back.
The evidence spread to all walks of life; Statistics on drugs and
violent crimes, driving while intoxicated, and drug-induced violence in
schools, homes, and social spaces. The connection between drug addiction,
alcoholism, and violence crosses many thresholds (individual psychology, public
health, and domestic violence, to name a few)
The consequences of hard drug misuse and abuse are also very
damning. Substance use disorders (SUDs), a medical condition defined by the
uncontrollable use of drugs and/or alcohol despite the negative consequences,
have been associated with a range of adverse outcomes, including suicide,
premature death, comorbid mental illness, and violence. In fact, research
indicates that up to 75% of individuals who begin treatment for a SUD report
having engaged in physical assault, mugging, using a weapon to attack another
person, and other violent crimes. Political thugs are no exceptions.
Drugs and violence spread to domestic violence as verbal,
emotional, and physical intimidation; and can be delivered in the form of
threats, destroying another’s possessions; hurting pets; forced sexual acts;
and physical acts (including hitting, hair pulling, punching, slapping, and
more) to hurt spouses, parents, stepparents, children, siblings, other
relatives, and intimate partners. These violent characters are the sort of
people politicians deploy on Election Day to perpetrate violence. The way drugs
have affected their mind, they are very dangerous because they can easily main
and even kill without thinking of the consequences.
Here are some of the most common drugs that have been found to
contribute to violent behaviour during intoxication and/or withdrawal and can
predispose their users and abusers to election violence:1. Cannabis
(marijuana); 2.Alcohol: An increased risk of aggression may occur when a person
is either intoxicated with alcohol or experiencing withdrawal from it; 3. PCP
(Phencyclidine); 4. Cocaine and heroin: Cocaine is a powerfully addictive
stimulant drug; 5. Amphetamines; 6. Methamphetamine;7. MDMA (Ecstasy); 8.
Opiates and Opioids are associated with increased aggression, impulsivity and
suiciside; 9.Anabolic Steroids: Anabolic steroids are synthetic or human-made,
variations of the male sex hormone testosterone; and 10. Sedatives
(benzodiazepines). The most common of these drugs are alcohol and marijuana for
being readily available and cheap to procure.
Having established that substance abuse is the largest
precipitator of violence in adults and adolescents, and related the same to
election violence, what is the way moving forward to ensure a hitch-free, fair
and credible 2023 General Election.
I will restrict my recommendations to just two levels namely
parents and law enforcement. Parents have to check themselves because research
tends to suggest that violent youths tend to have violent parents. 80% of child
abuse cases involve the use of drugs and alcohol. Drug abuse and violence tend
to have their roots in the family, parents have to take up responsibility for
dealing with the menace.
Against election violence particularly, Parents must check out
where their children, especially male children, are on Election Day. Parents
who have children known to use hard drugs have to seriously caution them about
the consequences of violence and thuggery during the election. This will help
to some extent.
Law enforcement is however the most crucial. Perpetrators of
election violence need to be decisively dealt with . Drugs of all kinds must be
kept far away from election venues, particularly hard drugs, especially
marijuana as well as alcohol.
The efforts of the federal government in dealing with drugs and drug
related issues in Nigeria received fresh impetus with the appointment Brigadier
Buba Marwa (rtd) as the NDLEA Chairman, who launched large-scale reforms at the
agency. The agency has to work closely with the police in reducing the
incidence and impact on the 2023 General Elections. Nigerians want to see
arrests, prosecution and jailing of election offenders. There must be
deterrence lest election violence and other vices associated with conduct of
elections in Nigeria will Persist.
HURIWA 15th anniversary is a unique opportunity to share the
thoughts on election violence in Nigeria and to appeal to Nigerians from all
walks of life to support the activist leadership of the Chairman, Chief
Executive officer of the National Drugs Laws Enforcement Agency Brigadier
General Mohammed Buba Marwa and help the agency to rid the Country of hard
drugs and dangerous substances that precipitate violence and all kinds of
violence in Nigeria.
*Emmanuel Onwubiko is head of the Human Rights Writers Association
of Nigeria and was National Commissioner of the National Human Rights
Commission of Nigeria
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