Prof Innocent Ujah, president of the Nigerian Medical Association (NMA), has backed a request by the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) to subject aspirants for elective offices in the All Progressives Congress (APC) to drug test, ahead of the party’s primary election.
Some of the leading APC aspirants that could be subjected to the test if the request is granted include, Bola Tinubu, former governor of Lagos; Rotimi Amaechi, minister of transportation; Chris Ngige, minister of labour; Professor Yemi Osinbajo, the country’s vice president, Yahaya Bello, Kogi State governor, among others who are seeking the party’s presidential ticket.
The request has, however, attracted condemnation by several lawyers and rights activists who insist it is unconstitutional and an infringement on the fundamental human rights of the aspirants.
However, supporting the proposal, Prof Ujah, said that the use of drugs by politicians would affect governance.
Ujah who spoke to PUNCH in interview, said, “There are schools doing drug tests for their students. Are you aware? There is a reason for that. Health is the state of physical mental and social well-being and not necessarily the absence of disease
“So obviously if a person takes drugs is the person in a good state of mind to govern Nigeria? It is a health issue, it also affects governance but I don’t expect anyone governing Nigeria to be on drugs but it is a possibility.
“The NMA will not have any objection to that. Even if not for politics, we want to ensure that everyone is on the correct state of mind. As a doctor, we do clinical examinations for fitness for instance.”
Recall that the NDLEA, on Wednesday, called on the APC, and other political parties, to make drug integrity tests part of the screening requirements for aspirants seeking to contest political offices in the 2023 general elections.
The Chairman of the NDLEA, Brigadier-General Buba Marwa (retd.), stated this at the 2022 First Quarter Best Performing Commands Awards ceremony which held in Abuja.
Marwa said he had written a letter to the National Chairman of the APC, Senator Abdullahi Adamu, and would be writing to the Peoples Democratic Party along with 16 other political parties.
He said, “For politicians, we have long advocated and I take the opportunity again to repeat the advocacy that when they run for public office it demands a lot of responsibility from the person and we need to be certain if he’s a person that is already a drug addict/user who will spend all the money he’s given for public service to consume cocaine and his head will not be in a stable condition to handle the affairs he has been entrusted with.
“For this reason, we have advocated and will continue to advocate that drug test be conducted for politicians; some state governments like Kano State are already doing this.
“Not just politicians, but government appointees, and I’ve just sent a letter this morning to the national chairman of the APC, who will be the first of the National Working Committee I wish to pay an advocacy visit on this issue.
“I recommended that drug tests be incorporated in the screening process for all those interested in running for public office; we’ll do the same to the PDP and other important parties.”