News

Irakpo Congratulates New ‘Sheriff’ in Delta, Seeks Partnership to Combat Drug Abuse

Published

3 years ago

June 10, 2023

Eric

By Eric Elezuo

Delta State born Anti-drug Advocate and Founder, Silec Initiatives, Amb. Sunny Irakpo, has sent a hearty congratulatory message to the newly sworn in governor of Delta State, Hon Sheriff Oborevwori, urging the governor to pay adequate attention to the fight against drug abuse among the youths while seeking partnership and support to continue to propagate the Delta Beyond Drugs campaign.

In the message, the US exchange alumnus, hailed the new governor for the overwhelming reception that heralded his election victory, and the swearing in ceremony that followed, describing the excitement and ovation in the air as “electrifying”. He maintained that “Deltans, home and abroad, felicitate with you as you assumed the number one position and wish you all the best in your tenure.”

Irakpo reminded that governor that his position is a call to duty as the task ahead demands assiduous efforts to fulfill the MORE Agenda of his government to the good people of Delta State while urging him to see youth welfare as the centre piece of his administration.

“As a lover of youths, we know that your administration will take the centre stage to address the social issues that affects young people which includes drug abuse, unemployment, lack of youth inclusiveness in governance, foster leadership and capacity building and opportunity for a robust engagement with the youths and critical stakeholders in order to achieve meaningful socio-economic development.

“Your Excellency, the issue of drug abuse has become so prevalent in the state that for the past decade, Delta State has been in the news, where some of her indigenes have been arrested as drug traffickers and barons inflicting lots of harm in the lives of the youths and damaging the good image of the state.

“The availability of these drugs has triggered in the youths an unlawful quest for consumption of one form of hard drugs or another thereby increasing social vices such as criminality, prostitution and cyber crime,” he said.

The anti-drug advocate also found space to commend the immediate past governor, Senator Ifeanyi Okowa for some of his social intervention policies under his SMART Agenda and for engaging youth in skills acquisition and entrepreneurship programmes. He urged the new governor to sustain the programmes to continue to arrest social ills.

Speaking on the Delta Beyond Drugs Campaign Project, Irakpo said it is for the wellbeing of the state and to attract foreign investment and make youths to add their quota to the development of the state.

“Over the years, Silec Initiatives as one of the leading anti-drug agencies in the country is passionately driving this message home with massive sensitization and drug prevention programs to assist the government in the fight against drug abuse. We are urging the governor to make a proclamation against drugs and substance abuse currently destroying the lives of promising youths”, adding that “as a pragmatic non-governmental organization, we shall continue to lead the campaign across the nooks and crannies of the 25 LGAs of the state for the rate at which our youths consume these drugs without medical prescription has led to behavioural, cognitive and psychological dysfunction of their brains in recent times.”

He also frowned at the rate women are also getting involved in drugs, citing the case of Bridget Emeka aka Mama, who was arrested on May 17, 2022 for the production of methamphetamine. He noted that according to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) as at 2018 revealed that 1 out of every 4 drug users is a woman. So where does the wellbeing and sanity of our homes lie? He queried.

“My recent tour to Delta has fueled my passion to address this challenge that is confronting the state because on a regular basis seeing youths experimenting different types of hard drugs to get ‘high’ without considering even the health implication is extremely worrisome.

“The commercialization of hard drugs like Colorado (colos), tramadol, codeine, refnol, swinol, pentatozine, Canadian loud, cannabis (marijuana), cocaine, heroin and other substances in clubs and public space, the state under your leadership should clamp down on drug merchants in order to drastically reduce these hazardous threats to our existence.

“The consumption of drugs in secondary schools is also what we are bringing to the front burner. It was identified that secondary school students in the country abuse over 15 different types of hard drugs. Our tertiary institutions have become profitable markets for the sales of drugs. Most students cannot do without drugs, and the irony is that they are replacing foods for drugs. This is most pitiable.

“Delta State remains one of the richest states in Nigeria, our strength is in our youths, it is so troubling seeing the lives of our productive work force and greatest resource being wasted. Your Excellency, as one of the United States Government Sponsored Exchange Alumni, invited and trained in this regards, we shall deploy all our technical know-how to bring the best in our youths.

“We cannot fold our arms and watch the drug market grow exponentially while other productive sectors are nosediving. As we have taken it upon ourselves to prevent our people from poor life through community education, grassroot mobilization, peer-to-peer sensitization, awareness creation through concert, seminars and town hall meetings,” he informed the governor.

Irakpo used the opportunity to inform the governor of a Silec Initiatives programme in partnership with the Anglican Diocese of Oleh Church of Nigeria under the Episcopal Leadership of His Lordship The Rt Rev’d John Usiwoma Aruakpor in commemoration of the United Nations International Day Against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking this Saturday.

He therefore called on the needed support from the government and the governor, who was a one-time parliamentarian, representing Okpe Constituency in the Delta State House of Assembly, known for being a listening leader.

“We believe so much in you, and that you will work with NGOs, civil society groups and other well-meaning Deltans to fight the scourge of drug abuse head long,” Irakpo concluded.

News

Gunmen Kill Driver, Abduct Passengers on Benin-Ore Expressway

Published

1 week ago

April 20, 2026

Eric

Gunmen suspected to be kidnappers have attacked a commercial bus operated by GUO Transport along the Benn-Ore expressway, killing the driver and abducting several passengers in what underscores Nigeria’s deepening insecurity on major highways.

Reports indicate that the assailants ambushed the South East-bound vehicle, opened fire on the driver, who died at the scene, and subsequently whisked away passengers to an unknown destination.

The incident is believed to have occurred along a notorious stretch of the highway linking the South-West to the South-South, long plagued by banditry and abductions.

While official confirmation from security agencies is expected, local sources and a circulating video showed that passengers might have forcefully been taken into nearby forests, a tactic commonly employed by kidnapping syndicates operating along the corridor. Similar attacks in the past have involved mass abductions, with victims later released after ransom payments.

News

Police Retirees Block Aso Rock Gate, Demand Action on Pension Scheme

Published

1 week ago

April 20, 2026

Eric

Some retirees of the Nigeria Police Force under the aegis of the Police Retired Officers Forum of Nigeria (PROF) have staged a protest at the Presidential Villa in Abuja demanding President Bola Tinubu sign the Police Exit Bill passed by the National Assembly in December 2025.

The bill seeks to withdraw the Nigeria Police Force from the Contributory Pension Scheme.

The protesters, under the scorching sun, walked from the Three Arms Zone in Abuja through the street in front of the Police Headquarters.

They carried placards with various inscriptions, in addition to the Nigerian flag and the flag of the Nigeria Police Force.

Led by its National Coordinator, CSP Raphael Irowainu, the protesters described the retention of the NPF in the Contributory Pension Scheme as fraudulent and illegal.

They also said the CPS is inhumane and obnoxious.

According to them, the protest seeks to prevail on President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to give assent to the Police Exit Bill passed by the National Assembly on 4th December 2025 and transmitted to the President on 16th March 2026.

They said that when signed into law, the Act will totally exempt the police from what they called a “slavery and untimely death-inducing pension scheme.”

The protesters, accompanied by some of their spouses and children, also blocked Gate 8 leading into the Presidential Villa, causing obstruction to vehicular movement.

Efforts by Villa security personnel to dissuade them from the protest proved abortive as they insisted on seeing the President.

They laid their mats in front of the gate, singing songs of solidarity, while some of them lay on the floor.

As of the time of filing this report, no one from the Villa had addressed the protesters.

CSP Irowainu said that their main purpose is to prevail on President Tinubu to sign the bill exiting the Nigeria Police Force from the CPS, which he said has been passed and transmitted to him by the National Assembly.

He lamented that while other security agencies in the country such as the Army, Navy, Air Force, SSS and others have all been exited from the scheme, the police remain trapped in it.

“Our major aim here is to prevail on President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to sign our bill—the bill exiting the police from the Contributory Pension Scheme—passed by the National Assembly on 4th December 2025 and transmitted to him on 16th March, 2026, into law, nothing more than that.

“The soldiers have been exited, the SSS has been exited, the Air Force has been exited, the Navy has been exited, the National Intelligence Agency (NIA) has been exited. The police, who are the father of them all, are trapped in this obnoxious Contributory Pension Scheme,” CSP Irowainu said.

It is not the first time retired officers are staging a protest over the CPS. In July last year, they demonstrated at the National Assembly to demand their removal from the Contributory Pension Scheme (CPS).

The demonstrators, mostly elderly, stood in the rain holding placards and chanting anti-government songs.

Some of the retired police officers also besieged the Force Headquarters in Abuja to protest against the CPS.

Addressing the protesters at the time, the then Inspector General of Police, IGP Kayode Egbetokun, said the welfare of retired police officers was being addressed, but that the exit of the Force from the Contributory Pension Scheme was not something that could be implemented immediately.

He, however, advised the leaders of the protest to refrain from spreading misinformation, stressing that the Force could not abandon its own.

News

IGP Disu Orders Ban on Illegal Checkpoints Nationwide

Published

2 weeks ago

April 13, 2026

Eric

The Inspector-General of Police (IGP), Olatunji Disu, has issued a sweeping directive to Commissioners of Police nationwide, ordering an immediate end to extortion, illegal checkpoints, harassment of citizens and other misconducts.

He declared that restoring public confidence in the Nigeria Police Force is now a top operational priority.

The order was contained in a signal to members of the police management team including Commissioners of Police (CP) and other operational commanders.

In the marching order, the IGP acknowledged the deep mistrust many Nigerians feel toward officers, describing it as “painful” and unacceptable.

He said citizens now fear encounters with the police as much as they fear criminals, warning that such a reputation cannot continue under his leadership.

According to him, the directive marks the beginning of a determined effort to rebuild discipline within the police and re-establish its legitimacy in the eyes of the public.

The order specifically outlawed the routine collection of money from motorists on highways, the operation of unauthorised checkpoints, and the practice of arresting citizens and forcing them to withdraw cash from Automated Teller Machines (ATMs) or Point of Sale (PoS) devices.

The IGP also condemned the use of officers for private duties in homes and businesses, describing such deployments as abuse of authority and a violation of existing presidential directives on VIP protection.

Officers were further directed to comply strictly with approved dress codes, remain clean-shaven and adhere to established uniform regulations.

The police boss warned that harassment of citizens in any form would no longer be tolerated, stressing that the Nigerian public is not the enemy of the Force but the reason for its existence. At the same time, he assured officers that the institution would equally defend them against intimidation or disrespect from members of the public, noting that the dignity of the uniform must be protected on both sides.

Holding command leaders directly accountable, the IGP said Commissioners of Police would henceforth be responsible for misconduct within their jurisdictions.

He ordered them to demonstrate measurable improvements in discipline within seven days or face formal queries and possible transfers where lapses persist.

He emphasised that supervisory failure would no longer be ignored at any level of leadership. To ensure compliance, the directive introduced new oversight measures, including independent monitoring of field operations and public reporting channels through which citizens can lodge complaints directly with Force Headquarters.

A Citizens Commendation System will also be established to recognise officers who demonstrate professionalism, with monthly honours to be drawn from public nominations across commands.

Describing the directive as a decisive turning point, the police chief said Nigerians have grown weary of promises and now expect visible change. He ordered all commanders to brief personnel under their authority within 72 hours and confirm compliance in writing, declaring that the process of cleaning up the Force has begun and will be sustained until public trust is restored.