A former operative of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), Williams Olubukola Olanrewaju, has dragged the Agency alongside four others before the National Industrial Court of Nigeria (NICN), Abuja, over alleged unlawful dismissal from service while exposing corruption in the Agency.

In a suit marked NICN /ABJ/248/2022, Olanrewaju exposed what he described as monumental corrupt activities in the agency.

The suit listed the NDLEA, its Chairman, Gen. Mohamed Marwa, Zirangeh Sunday Drambi, Samuel Okereke Abarogu (Assistant Commander of Narcotic, ACN); and Tapuyen Sunday, ACN, as 2nd to 5th defendants respectively.

The claimant who is represented by a team of six lawyers led by Sunday Adaji, said he worked until March 24, 2022, when he was served a Notice of Punishment without management investigation and later “dismissed unlawfully.

The claimant explained that while working at the SET/SIU Lekki office, Lagos, he had issues with his senior officers over “their corrupt activities ranging from frustrating him from accessing vital information, collecting bribes from suspects, missing files, aiding and abetting, tampering with drugs seized, and seizure of drug from a drug courier and refusing to arrest the person caught with hard drugs.”

In an affidavit in support of the suit, the claimant further stated that “They saw him as a threat to their corrupt activities and so planned to get him out of the Unit, which they eventually did.

“The officers involved in the alleged corrupt practices are Zirangey Sunday Drambi, with the rank of Deputy Commander General of Narcotics – DCGN (Director of Agency Intelligence); b. Kehinde Olubunmi George, with the rank of Chief Narcotic Agent – CNA; c. Samuel Okereke Abarogu, with the rank of Assistant Commander of Narcotics – ACN; d. Azeez Abiodun Lawal, with the rank of Assistant Superintendent of Narcotic 1 ASNI.

“Others are “Osifuye Femi Johnson, with the rank of Deputy Commander of Narcotics DCN, Desmond Ukeh, with the rank of Chief Narcotic Agent- CNA g. Attah Ifeanyichukwu, with the rank of Chief Narcotic Agent – CNA, and Jeff Alazigha, with the rank of Assistant Commander of Narcotic ACN.

“The rest are “Chigorom Orji, with the rank of Chief Narcotics Agent – CNA; Oguledo Anthony, with the rank of Assistant Superintendent of Narcotics II-AND II; and Omotoso Solomon Gbadebo, with the rank of Deputy Commander of Narcotics-DCN,” he alleged.

The claimant accused the officers of using “one Barrister Benson Ndakara to extort arrested targets,” who “is not an employee of the NDLEA.”

The Court papers alleged that: “The corrupt officers always instructed the barrister to arrest suspects for extortion and promised them that their cases would be frustrated if they could pay them through the lawyer.

“Also, all SET/SIU arrested suspects used Barrister Benson Ndakara for their cases as the corrupt officers only advised/introduced arrested suspects to use Barrister Benson Ndakara as their lawyer,” it stated.

Olanrewaju further said in his statement on oath that “he has evidence, including those in his office desktop computer, laptop and devices, to prove his allegations of the corrupt practices perpetrated by the mentioned officers.”

He explained, “that on September 24, 2019, he and other officers of the 2 defendants, including, Azubuike Stella, Paul Dimgba, Tapgun Manjel, Attah Ifeanyichukwu, Chigorom Orji, and George Kehinde, collected 3 kilogrammes of Heroin from one Charles Cole Osiyemi at Farm City Lounge, Lekki, close to SIU office in Lekki.”

In his court affidavit, he stated that he, alongside “Azubuike Stella, played the major role in the operation leading to interception of the Heroin from Charles, the drug courier.”

According to him, on September 25, 2019, he asked Samuel Abarogu Okereke “what I will put in the investigation report but he told me not to write anything in the report because the 3kg of heroin would be kept for evidence in future arrest.”

He said he was shocked and displeased by the action and later realised that Samuel Abarogu Okereke and Zirangey “had tampered with the 3 kilogrammes of Heroin. The 3 kilogrammes of Heroin ought to have been taken to the NDLEA’s “Central Exhibit for safekeeping.”

He accused Zirangey of “aiding and abetting as he refused to arrest Charles Cole Osiyemi the target, from whom the 3 kilogrammes of Heroin was intercepted,” in spite of the fact that he had provided “the details of his whereabouts in his Intelligence Report before the drug interception day.”

He further accused Zirangey of always ensuring official document miss at the SIU (Sensitive Investigative Unit) of the NDLEA office in Lekki, Lagos State, by using his “position as senior officer” to “extort money from suspects on trial in the courts of law. What he always does after extorting money from targets is he would steal the case file of the targets from the SIU in order to put an end to their prosecution in court.

“The case of one Olusegun Folorunso Ayodele (target) is one among several cases of missing files at the SIU, Lekki, Lagos. Olusegun Folorunso Ayodele is a clearing agent. He is a courier agent to drug traffickers. He was arrested and not prosecuted. He was released without proper order.

“Olusegun Folorunso Ayodele’s case file got missing in order to hinder the prosecution of another drug trafficker by name, Uba Harris Etochukwu Alaekwe. Owing to the missing case file, one Irene Ehizibolo member of the SIU fled without trace till date,” court processes showed.

He alleged that Zirangey and his accomplices usually kill suspects to hide their corrupt acts citing as an example the alleged killing of “one target named OSAMA (nickname). Osama is a farm planter in Ondo State. He paid some money into the account of Omotoso Solomon Gbadebo. After paying the money, he was released, and immediately he was released, he died. Omotoso Solomon Gbadebo is one of the corrupt officers.”

He further revealed that in August 2019, Saheed Oyewole Akanbi, whom he described as a “notorious international drug trafficker” was also killed after he was aware of “Zirangey’s illegal deals, which also involved “one Sani Ibrahim Sani, the ACGN (the director of Admin and Establishment,” of the NDLEA.

He claimed in the court documents that Zirangey and his accomplices stopped him from investigating “one Tajudeen of Holland (residing in Mozambique as at 2019 and who also has a residence in Lekki, Lagos State.”

He pointed out that the case was handed over to him by the Commander on Drugs in Cotonou, Republique du Benin along with the National Crime Agency – UK country attaché. As such, they vowed to get him out of the SET/SIU.

He further alleged that he was arrested, tortured and dehumanized on the 2nd of October, 2019, and that he was detained in a secret place by the alleged corrupt NDLEA officers for 14 days, without food for 8 days.

He prayed the court to declare as illegal his orderly room trial, that he is still validly in the service of NDLEA, a perpetual injunction restraining the NDLEA and its officers from further subjecting him to inhuman and degrading treatment as well as restoration of his monthly salary of eighty-two thousand naira (N82,000.00k) and the sum of thirty million naira (N30,000,000.00k) being compensation for violating his right to personal liberty as guaranteed by section 34 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999, as amended, Article 5 of the African Charter on Human and Peoples Rights (Ratification and Enforcement) Act Chapter AB (Chapter 10 LFN 1990) and Article 5 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights 1948. (The Sun)

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