2023: Don’t Vote Drug Addicted Politicians, Masari’s Wife Tells Nigerians

Francis Sardauna in Katsina

Ahead of the 2023 general election, the wife of the Katsina State Governor, Dr. Hadiza Bello Masari, has admonished Nigerians, particularly youths, not to vote drug addicted politicians during the polls.

She said the menace of drug addiction has pervaded all segments of the society and only drug integrity tests on people in critical service sectors can sanitise the system.

Mrs Masari spoke while inaugurating the Drugs and Substance Abuse Advisory and Counselling Centre in Musawa, built by a community philanthropist, Abdullahi Aliyu, in collaboration with her pet project, ‘Centre for the Advancement of Mothers and Children in Katsina’.

According to her, “It is pertinent for us to check whoever is contesting for any political position or office to ascertain whether he or she is not a drug addict before we can vote for him.

“We should make sure that the person is not a drug addicted politician irrespective of whoever he is. So, we should not vote for drug addicted politicians.”

The governor’s wife lamented the misbehaviour of some political office holders, saying most of the crimes committed in the society is drug-induced.

While describing drug addiction as a public health issue with grave concern and increased crimes, she said it could destroy life and create more impediments and dysfunction within matrimonial homes and the society.

She, however, said the newly inaugurated centre will provide counselling, rehabilitation and treatment to drug users in order to stem the tide of drug addiction among youths and married women in the state.

Speaking earlier, the state Chief Judge and Chairman, Board of Trustees, Centre for the Advancement of Mothers and Children, Justice Musa Danladi Abubakar, said the centre has stemmed the menace of drug abuse among youths in the state.

He added that the issue of banditry and gun-running can only thrive in the country when drugs are available, calling on religious and traditional leaders to support the ongoing war against drug abuse in order to eliminate the scourge.

In his remarks, Aliyu said the drug rehabilitation centre would focus on patients’ detoxification and social reintegration by assessing their physical and mental health, vowing to build another centre in Matazu Local Government Area of the state.

On his part, the state Commandant of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), Muhammed Bashir Ibrahim, noted that 90 per cent of those who abuse drugs in the state are between the ages of 14 and 15 respectively.