Rivers State Command of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA has debunked allegations that the command has a 10 year old girl in its custody demanding N600,000.
The State Command through its Deputy State Commander, DCN Emmanuel Ikechukwu, in a press release on Tuesday, August 22, 2023 further clarified that on “Thursday 17th August 2023, operatives of NDLEA Rivers State Command arrested one Success Nsikan, female, 15 years old, at Chinda area of Ada George, Port Harcourt, where she was selling Cannabis Sativa. She also sold cannabis sativa worth N500 to our operatives before her arrest, and she led the operatives to her father who is her supplier. Unfortunately her father was not at home but a search was conducted in her father’s room and more Cannabis sativa was recovered, totalling 1kg.”
Mr. Ikechukwu said the girl was taken into the NDLEA facility where she is undergoing counselling and also helping the agency in their investigation.
“She will be released to a reliable and responsible adult after the counselling process. Meanwhile her father is still at large.”
“Nobody Demanded Money to Grant Her Bail…” ~ NDLEA
The command’s spokesperson emphasised that the “allegation by one Courage Nsirimovu on his facebook page and radio station, that the NDLEA is demanding for six hundred thousand naira (N600,000) to grant bail to a 10 year old suspect is false and misleading, with ulterior motive to bring the good works of NDLEA to disrepute. The allegation is frivolous and should therefore be disregarded. The Suspect, Success Nsikan, is 15 years old and not 10 years old, and nobody demanded money to grant her bail.”
The Rivers State Commander of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, Ahmed Mamuda through the Deputy State Commander, Media and Advocacy urged Rivers people to beware of those who engage in using under aged persons to peddle drugs and bring the information to NDLEA. The command said it will “continue to use all available legal means to bring them to justice.”
Mrs Blessing Nsikan’s Reactions
Mrs. Blessing Nsikan, when asked what the reaction of NDLEA was when she visited the office, she confirmed to The Social Voice Africa’s John Best UCHE that the command had not demanded any amount of money from her as a bail term for her daughter. Rather, she was asked to come with someone (an adult) to sign her bail.
Mrs Nsikan said her daughter is 11 years old and neither 10 nor 15.
