Marijuana mess! NDLEA may go after Tonto Dike…Risks 15 years jail term

 Nigeria’s acclaimed ‘Queen of Controversies, Tonto Dike, will never cease to surprise her teeming fans and the general public with her wacky life style and undying love for bad news. This time she seems to have taken her luck too far by daring and incurring the wrath of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA).

The Rivers State-born screen diva on Thursday, August 27, 2013 threw caution to the wind by posting a photograph of wrapped marijuana, her sunglasses and a business class ticket on a table. As if that’s not enough, the self-acclaimed Poko Queen wrote ‘Happy birthday with weed.” She also added another inscription, “Mi smoke ganja, mi smoke weed, while my hatez smoke ma gossip.”

The post elicited a flurry of invectives from critics and fans of the controversial actress.

NDLEA spokesperson, Mr. Mitchell Ofoyeju had said that the attention of the agency had been drawn to the post and that necessary action would be taken on it.

“The law is clear and NDLEA has been very clear on the issue. No one is permitted to sell, use, cultivate or encourage the use of Indian hemp in Nigeria. The substance is one of the banned narcotics in the country,” NDLEA said.

 “NDLEA Act Section 14 (b) states that any person who conspires with, aids, abets, counsels, attempts to commit or is an accessory to any act or offence referred to in this act shall be guilty of an offence under this act and liable on conviction to be sentenced to imprisonment for a term not less than 15 years and not exceeding 25 years.”

The actress had launched a damage control campaign by stating through her publicist that the picture posted on Instagram was a misconception.

She said, "As much as I would like to ignore the current issue on hemp, I think I owe well-meaning people some clarifications. It is so easy the misconception that can come from a picture- the genius of technology. If you cannot find me holding a wrap of marijuana then you may want to slow down on your assumptions. We shouldn’t use our platforms to spread half-truths.

“A fan wrote those words with herbs on my birthday on Instagram, and I replied: “Thank you #teampoko”. Now how does someone else’s action become my crime? If I said those words ('Mi smoke ganja, mi smoke weed while my hatez smoke ma gossip’) I will stand by them but I didn’t, and just because it is convenient for people to believe the lies still doesn’t make it the truth. The whole thing is falsified by people who just love to have fun at other’s expense.

“Let’s put some thought to some of the things we write. Don’t do cut-and-paste. The original pictures are there to see; but no! That is too boring to be the truth. We want the truth to be nasty and spicy for our enjoyment, even if it is a pack of lies. Visit my Instagram page and see if the original picture is the same as the ones being circulated”, she said.
Meanwhile, the development also caught the attention of a non-governmental organization, Human Rights Writers’ Association Of Nigeria (HURIWA).

In a communiqué jointly signed by the National Coordinator, Comrade Emmanuel Onwubiko and National Media Director, Miss. Zainab Yusuf, HURIWA said the anti-drug agency was chasing shadows by threatening to arrest a Nigerian citizen whose alleged ‘marijuana photograph’ does not constitute hard core judicial evidence but rather a social media contraption that may never stand credibility test in the competent court of law.

HURIWA asked NDLEA to also concentrate on how to repair its public image damaged by the costly mistake it made during the arrest, detention and investigation of the popular Yoruba comedian/actor Babatunde Omidina famously known as Baba Suwe.