The Edo Command of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) on Sunday denied a media report credited to it commander, Alumona Callys Obioma, as saying “drugs are being hawked in the streets of Benin City like sachet water”.
The agency described the report as misleading and unfair sensationalism.
The command’s spokesperson, Bebetu Ondotimi, who made the denial in a statement, urged the public to disabuse their minds from the report.
“The attention of NDLEA Edo State Command has been drawn to a misleading report from some sections of the media on the courtesy visit of the newly posted state Commander, Alumona Obioma, a Commander of Narcotics, to the Chief of Staff to the Executive Governor of Edo State on March 21, 2024.”
“The report suggested that the State Commander in his briefing said that ‘Drugs were being hawked in the streets of Benin City like Pure Water’.
According to him, the commander assumed duty barely four week ago, queering how he could he have travelled the entire length and breadth of the State to make such a comment.
“The report is not only misleading but unfair sensationalism. That the State Commander was quoted as said that drugs were being sold in “Benin City” Iike sachet water was not only damaging, but a malicious report.
“For the avoidance of doubt, the State Commander said that his predecessor briefed him about the unholy trade of Narcotic Drugs along Iyamu street and Country Home Area without restraint, that the Governor himself has identified these black spots,” Ondotimi said.
He said there was no time Benin City was classified as drug infested or where drugs are hawked like pure water.
