In a recent Aljazeera interview, APC
presidential candidate Muhammadu Buhari was questioned about some of his
harsh policies as military head of state, especially the decree of the
military council to hand death sentences to men dealing in hard drugs.
Buhari said: “The question of executing
people was about people dealing in drugs. We said cocaine and associated
drugs were not developed or produced in Nigeria. People who want to
make money at the expense of health, lives of people go to the countries
that produce these substances and make Nigeria a transit camp for
drugs, destroying Nigerian communities and extend the destruction even
to developed countries just to make money. We were concerned that if
people want to make money, they should go out and work hard and make
money, not to go and bring drugs, sell it and destroy our youth, sell it
and destroy other countries just to make money. We made the law, that
whoever did it should be executed. Let him go and make the money
elsewhere, not in Nigeria.”
Governor Jonah Jang of Plateau State,
who is also a retired military officer, might be in a different party
from Buhari but he seems to be proposing something similar to what
Buhari proposed 30 years ago. Jang is proposing the death sentence for
producers and marketers of harmful drugs in order to curtail the
incidence of drug abuse across the country.
Jang, who spoke at the passing out
parade of 255 senior officers of Basic Course of NDLEA’s Regional
Academy for Drug Control (RADC) in Jos, while noting that the effects of
drug abuse are devastating, said the trade is lucrative for
traffickers.
He said that nothing short of the maximum sentence can stop them.
“We know that in some countries,
especially in Asia, when you are caught, it’s death sentence. But for us
in Nigeria, it ranges between five to 25 years jail term, which is
grossly inadequate. These drugs cause a lot of damage, so, you should
look into it. Put a law in place that will ensure that manufacturers and
distributors will receive the maximum sentence, and let it be the death
sentence. Anybody caught growing or distributing the substance should
be sentenced to death.”
Jang, who was represented by the state’s
Commissioner for Education, Professor Comfort Piwuna, said the maximum
punishment was necessary to tell drug barons that their trade was
destroying Nigerian youths and the larger society.
Are you Gen. Buhari in disguise?: Gov. Jang proposes death sentence for drug peddlers
4/
5
Oleh
healthandwealth
