President Tinubu has reappointed Brigadier-General Mohammed Buba Marwa (rtd) as Chairman of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) for another five-year term.
The appointment comes as a relief to Marwa and those who love what he has done at the NDLEA, and this decision keeps Nigeria’s most effective anti-drug warrior in the saddle until 2031.
When a man becomes a nightmare to drug barons, a terror to traffickers, and a hope to parents battling the scourge of addiction, you don’t replace him. You reinforce him.
President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has done exactly that. In a move that reverberated across security circles on Friday, the President gave Marwa a fresh mandate to continue his anti drug war .
The reappointment of the former Lagos state Administrator is not just a renewal, it is a statement.
MARWA, THE MAN WHO TURNED THE NDLEA INTO A MACHINE
Before 2021, NDLEA was often overwhelmed. After Marwa took charge, it became relentless.
A retired military officer, former governor of Lagos and Borno States, and a Harvard-trained administrator, Marwa arrived at NDLEA with a soldier’s discipline and a reformer’s clarity.
UNDER HIS WATCH:
✓ 73,000 drug traffickers and barons were arrested.
✓ Over 15 million kilogrammes of hard drugs were seized.
✓ Communities across Nigeria witnessed some of the boldest anti-drug campaigns in decades.
✓ Drug lords lost sleep; families regained hope.
A LIFETIME OF SERVICE — AND STILL COUNTING
From his early days as a second lieutenant in 1973 to serving as ADC to General Theophilus Danjuma, to roles at the UN and Nigeria’s embassy in Washington, Marwa has carried the military creed across continents.
He didn’t just rise through the ranks, he earned every stripe.
Two master’s degrees later — one from the University of Pittsburgh, another from Harvard, he returned to Nigeria armed with knowledge and a global perspective on public administration.
TINUBU’S MESSAGE: KEEP HUNTING
President Tinubu did not mince words while endorsing Marwa for another term:
“Your reappointment is a vote of confidence… Do not relent. Track the merchants of hard drugs, out to destroy our people, especially the young ones.”
It was both a salute… and a challenge.
2031 IS THE NEW DEADLINE
With this reappointment, Nigeria’s war on drugs doesn’t merely continue, it intensifies.
Marwa has five more years to deepen reforms, chase down traffickers, dismantle networks, and protect the nation’s most vulnerable.
Drug dealers now know one thing for sure, the General is not going anywhere