Test Nigerian Leaders For Drug Abuse -Emir Sanusi

  
The Emir of Kano, Muhammadu Sanusi, has called for a law to compel Nigerian political and religious leaders, including lawmakers, governors and traditional rulers, to undertake drug test.


According to him, leaders in the country condone the use of illegal substances by their bodyguards and thugs.

Sanusi, who made the call at the opening of a two-day Senate Roundtable on Drug Abuse Epidemic in Nigeria, organised by the Senate in Kano yesterday, said he would be happy to subject himself to same test.

He said: “I will be happy to subject myself to drug test. We deceive ourselves if we say we are not part of the problem. 90 per cent of issues that we have, flourish due to lack of political will.

Anybody who an element of drug abuse is found in him should quickly resign his position because he is not fit to hold public position.’’

He said it was hypocritical and amounted to mere talk for a governor or senator or any big political office holder, to speak against drug abuse in the society, while having highly drugged thugs as his body guards moving around freely. “Today, it is better to be a drug baron on the payroll of a political leader, than to be a legally recognised security man, which means we must clean our acts before trying to achieve anything.

“Political leaders employ and support drug addicts as body guards, despite their unlimited access to established security agencies, both public and private.” He said he was “very ready and happy to be subjected to drugs test. And if I am found not worthy of being emir, I will quietly resign because the matter is bigger than what we are talking about.” The emir noted that several laws are in the books to fight drug abuse but lamented that they are not being implemented. He said: “If we are not implementing these laws in the books, what assurance do we have that new ones will be implemented? “The trade in illicit drugs is a protective trade,  and we must ask, who are those involved in this? How many rehabilitation centres do we have? How well equipped   are they ready for the challenges; how many capacity development centres do we have?   I think we must answer these questions for us to make headway. ‘’Like I always say, if you don’t want to hear the truth, don’t invite me. Our major problem is that we are not implementing the laws we have for regulating drugs. ‘’We have guidelines on who is allowed to sell drugs and who to sell the drugs to, but we are not following these guidelines.”

Vanguard