In what has sparked widespread outrage and disbelief, former Senator Dino Melaye has taken a heavy swipe at President Bola Ahmed Tinubu over what he described as an “unprecedented and disgraceful pardon” granted to 70 convicted drug barons.
The fiery Kogi-born politician, known for his sharp tongue and fearless criticism, said the president’s action had completely undermined decades of sacrifice, risk, and national struggle invested by the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) in combating narcotics.
Melaye, in a blistering statement on Sunday, declared: “Pardon granted 70 drug lords by President Tinubu is unprecedented in history. Checks have revealed that it has never happened in the history of the world. My advice to the President is to scrap the NDLEA. His action has made a beautiful nonsense of all the efforts of the agency since inception.”
The statement, now generating ripples across political and civic circles, captures the growing sentiment among Nigerians who view the alleged mass pardon as a fatal blow to the nation’s anti-drug crusade.
Observers say Melaye’s description of the pardon as a “beautiful nonsense” sums up a collective sense of betrayal felt by citizens who had once hailed the NDLEA as one of the few functioning agencies in Nigeria’s law enforcement structure.
Melaye’s fury dripped with satire and pain as he wondered how a government that daily preaches moral reformation and social discipline could turn around to embrace those who profit from the ruin of others.
He warned that the president’s decision had, in effect, mocked every fallen NDLEA operative, every shattered home, and every youth destroyed by drug abuse.
“When you free 70 convicted drug lords in one sweep,” a furious Melaye said, “you are not granting mercy, you are institutionalizing impunity.”
Political analysts say the former senator’s words may ignite fresh national debate on the integrity of Nigeria’s justice system and the sincerity of the Tinubu administration’s fight against corruption.
