State Pardon: You Have Wasted NDLEA’s Efforts To Curtail Narcotics, Melaye Tells Tinubu

Former Kogi West Senator, Barrister Dino Melaye, has strongly criticised President Bola Tinubu over the recent presidential pardon granted to drug offenders serving jail terms, saying such action has wasted the many years of efforts by the National Drug Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) to curtail narcotics.

In a post on his verified Facebook page on Sunday evening, Melaye described the action as unprecedented and that it undermines Nigeria’s anti-narcotics campaign.

“Pardon granted 70 drug lords by President Tinubu is unprecedented in history. Checks have revealed that it has never happened in the history of the world,” Melaye wrote.

The former federal lawmaker argued that the decision sends the wrong signal to both local and international observers who have been following Nigeria’s fight against drug trafficking.

“My advice to the President is to scrap the NDLEA. His action has made a beautiful nonsensical of all the efforts of the agency since inception,” Melaye added.

Recall that President Tinubu’s exercise of the prerogative of mercy on Thursday covered 175 individuals, including 82 inmates who were granted full pardon, 65 whose sentences were commuted, and seven death-row convicts whose sentences were reduced to life imprisonment.

LEADERSHIP reports that Melaye’s comment adds to a growing wave of public criticism questioning the inclusion of individuals convicted for serious offences, particularly murder and drug-related crimes, in the clemency list.