The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), arrested 1,200 suspects and seized more than 30 tonnes of illicit substances in Edo in 2025, according to its Chairman, retired Brig.-Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa.

Marwa disclosed this on Wednesday in Benin during a visit to the palace of the Oba of Benin, Oba Ewuare II.

Marwa, who was accompanied by senior agency officials, including NDLEA commandants in Edo and Delta, sought the traditional ruler’s support in the fight against drug abuse and trafficking.

He said that more than 15 million Nigerians were abusing drugs, representing about three times the global average, with devastating consequences for young people, families and communities.

“The drug scourge has continued to devastate our youth, our families and our communities,” he fumed.

Marwa said the problem affected all communities, including the Benin Kingdom, and required a collective response involving traditional institutions, religious organisations, civil society groups, government and the media.

“But most importantly, the traditional institution, which is arguably the most respected institution in Nigeria today,” he said.

He explained that the NDLEA’s responsibilities included enforcing drug laws and providing counselling, treatment and rehabilitation for people struggling with drug dependence.

Marwa also highlighted alternative development as a new pillar of the agency’s drug control strategy aimed at encouraging cannabis farmers to cultivate legal crops such as cassava, yam and maize.

He said cannabis accounted for 75 per cent of the 16 million kilogrammes of illicit substances seized by the agency nationwide in the past six years.

According to him, the initiative seeks to help farmers abandon illicit cultivation for legitimate livelihoods, with government support for infrastructure, including roads, schools, clinics and water supply.

Marwa said the programme had commenced as a pilot project in three communities in Ondo State, with the possibility of extending it to Edo.

He added that he had presented the proposal to the Edo governor, who welcomed the initiative.

The NDLEA chairman sought the Oba’s blessing and support in encouraging communities across the kingdom to shun drug abuse and trafficking.

Responding, Oba Ewuare II commended Marwa for his efforts against drug abuse and other social problems.

The traditional ruler said he had a suggestion for improving the agency’s operations and would communicate it privately to Marwa.

“I have a suggestion I will make in writing that I will not want to say here in public to NDLEA, as my own thinking on how to improve the work of NDLEA,” he said.

The Oba also acknowledged the importance of collective efforts in addressing societal challenges and wished Marwa and his delegation well.(NAN)

By Tony Obiechina, Abuja

Jaiz bank has denied involvement of alleged N104m fraud in its Jos branch.

In a statement by its Corporate Communications Department in Abuja on Wednesday, the bank said “Jaiz Bank Plc wishes to address recent media reports alleging institutional fraud involving a disputed ₦104 million investment arrangement in Jos, Plateau State”.

According to the statement, following a comprehensive review of transactions involving a former employee and some complainants, Jaiz Bank clarifies that the disputed funds were never received, booked, or registered under any official Jaiz Bank investment product or account.

Continuing, the state that internal records show no evidence of Bank-authorized investments, but rather indicate private transactions between the complainants and the former employee.

“The transaction details provided by the complainants do not align with Jaiz Bank’s established operational, regulatory, or authorization protocols.

“As the matter is pending before the High Court of Justice of Plateau State, Jaiz Bank urges the public and media to avoid drawing premature conclusions based on unverified public narratives.

“Jaiz Bank remains fully committed to ethical, Shari’ah-compliant finance, transparency, and cooperation with regulatory and judicial authorities to ensure a fair resolution”, the statement added.

President Donald Trump asked voters to pretend he was on the ballot in the midterm elections and handpicked Republican candidates in some of the country’s most consequential Senate races.

By Tuesday night, voters had rejected them.

Trump-backed ‌candidates in South Carolina, North Carolina, Texas and Michigan all lost, handing Democrats control of the chamber and exposing the limits of Trump’s political power.

Trump has spent more than a decade reshaping the Republican Party around his MAGA movement, dictating primary matchups and pushing aside conservative figures he felt were insufficiently loyal or not aligned with his vision.

Trump repeatedly favored loyalists and ideological allies over more established Republicans with stronger statewide networks and proven electoral track records, betting that his endorsement could overcome their political liabilities.

Tuesday’s results revealed he was unable to persuade the broader electorate to back his choices.

One of the most stunning repudiations came in South Carolina, which had not elected a Democratic senator since 1998 and which Trump won by 18 percentage points ⁠in 2024.

Trump backed Darline Graham, the sister of late Republican Senator Lindsey Graham. But Democrat Annie Andrews won the seat in a stunning upset.

In North Carolina, Trump endorsed former national Republican campaign official Michael Whatley, who lost in a rout to former Democratic Governor Roy Cooper.

In Texas, Trump intervened in a messy Republican primary election to promote scandal-plagued Attorney General Ken Paxton over Senator John Cornyn, a Trump ally who some in the party considered a safer pick in the general election.

Democrat James Talarico glided to a victory on Tuesday night, delivering Democrats a seat the party had not won since 1988.

Former U.S. Representative Mike Rogers, Trump’s choice in Michigan, was defeated by Democrat Abdul El-Sayed, who will be the first Muslim to serve in the Senate.

The losses came as Trump’s popularity was lower heading into Tuesday’s vote than in the aftermath of the January 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol, according to Reuters/Ipsos polls.

That helped fuel concerns among Republicans that the president had become a drag on the party he remade around himself.

“This is a Trump Quake,” said Doug Heye, a veteran Republican strategist, pointing to voter frustration over high prices caused by tariffs and the war in Iran.

“Trump spent the ‌year telling ⁠voters what was important to him, not to them.”

Trump struck a defiant tone as election returns arrived.

“I wasn’t on the ballot, and if I was, we would have won in a landslide!” Trump wrote in a Tuesday night social media post.

One White House official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Trump “did a better job promoting many of the candidates on the ballot than the candidates did themselves.”

A senior White House official, also speaking anonymously, told Reuters the administration had polling data as far back as six weeks ago showing Republicans would lose both the House of Representatives and Senate.

He also told Reuters that Trump embarked on a month-long nationwide campaign to try to salvage Republicans’ prospects.

Some independent analysts said the Senate losses bore Trump’s fingerprints specifically.

Thomas Kahn, a professor at American University, said the president’s intervention in the Texas Republican primary had cost his party a safe seat, arguing that a nomination for Senator John Cornyn “would have been a slam dunk for Republicans to win.”

North Carolina, Kahn said, was another clear case.

Republican incumbent senator Thom Tillis said he would not seek re-election last year after a ⁠public split with Trump, who threatened to back a primary challenger against him after Tillis balked at Medicaid cuts in the president’s tax-and-spending bill.

“He essentially gave that seat away to Democrats,” Kahn said. “Roy Cooper would not have run if Thom Tillis had run for re-election.”

Former North Carolina Governor Pat McCrory, a Republican, said Trump’s interventions in his party’s primaries had divided Republicans in state after state.

In South Carolina, ⁠McCrory said, the president went against two local congressmen, a fight that “really divided the party” – an example, in his telling, of a president spending his political capital against his own side.

McCrory’s sharpest criticism was aimed at Trump’s connection with the voters who built his coalition.

“I think President Trump’s greatest strength was that he had a common touch with the working-class people,” McCrory said.

“He lost that skill. He better regain that skill for the good of the country.” (NAN)