By Chinenyeze Chima
Drug cartels and hardened criminals have set their sights on Imo State’s Special Adviser to the Governor on Narcotics and Illicit Drugs Monitoring, Chief Ezechukwu Obonna, delivering a series of chilling warnings that he will be killed and his family wiped out for stepping up the fight against narcotics. In recent weeks,
Obonna has been inundated with menacing phone calls and text messages that specifically name his children, a tactic clearly designed to intimidate him into abandoning his anti‑drug agenda.
The threats have not been limited to verbal warnings; the messages contain graphic descriptions of violence, leaving little doubt that the senders are prepared to act on their promises.
Obonna’s office has responded by intensifying anti‑drug campaigns across all 27 council areas of Imo State. Working closely with the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) and local youth groups, the adviser’s team has launched a series of public awareness drives, school‑based education programs, and community policing initiatives aimed at curbing trafficking routes that snake through the state’s rural corridors.
These efforts have already yielded arrests of low‑level couriers and the seizure of small consignments of methamphetamine and cannabis, but they have also provoked the ire of powerful syndicates operating in Imo and neighboring Rivers State.
Intelligence gathered by security agencies points to the intimidation campaign originating from remnants of a drug cartel that was dismantled earlier this year after a raid on a drug bunk in Umuelegwa‑Onicha. Although the bunk was burned and several key operatives arrested, a splinter network remains active in the area.
This network has been using coded numbers and encrypted messaging apps to warn Obonna that any further disruption of their business will be met with lethal force, and that he will be dealt with in the same manner as other officials who have crossed them.
The situation underscores the growing danger faced by public officials who confront organized drug crime in Nigeria. As the battle between law‑enforcement and the cartels intensifies, citizens are urged to remain vigilant, report any suspicious activity to the nearest police station or NDLEA office, and support those who bravely stand on the front lines of the narcotics menace.
The safety of Obonna and his family now hinges on a coordinated response from state and federal authorities, as well as the solidarity of the communities they serve.
Chinenyeze Chima is the Special Assistant to the SA to Imo State Governor on Narcotics and Illicit Drugs Monitoring.
