19th May, 2021
PRESS
RELEASE:
DON’T LEGITIMISE CANNABIS – MURIC
Mr. Benjamin Kalu, a spokesman of the House
of Representatives, has said cannabis would aid Nigeria’s industrial drive and
boost her internally generated revenue (IGR). Kalu spoke on Monday, 17th
May, 2021. But an Islamic human rights group, the Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC)
has countered this claim. According to the group, the legalisation of cannabis
will be the last nail in the coffin of morality in Nigeria.
MURIC’s reaction came through its director,
Professor Ishaq Akintola, on Wednesday, 19th May 2021.
He said, “A spokesman of
the House of Representatives, Mr. Benjamin Kalu, has solicited for the
legalisation of cannabis in Nigeria. We strongly condemn this attempt to
compartmentalise Nigerians into vicious drug cartels. Benjamin Kalu wants to
turn Nigeria into another Mexico on the African continent.
“We already have serious security challenges.
Boko Haram has been here for more than a decade. We have homegrown kidnapping
crisis. Desperate separatist movements have turned into terrorists. We have
cultism-related killings in our cities and among our young students.
“The Glorious Qur’an has
diagnosed the Nigerian problem with microscopic accuracy. It said, ‘Evil has
appeared on both land and sea as a result of the handiworks of men so that
Allah may give them a taste of their deeds and perchance they will turn back
from their evil (Qur’an 30:41 Zahara al-fasad fil-barri wal-bahr..)
“The security challenges we
are currently facing are punishments for our recklessness. Instead of thinking
of making criminal elements in the country ‘turn back from their evil’, Kalu
wants to cap the edifice with drug war. There is no gainsaying the fact that
the legalisation of cannabis will be the last straw that broke the camel’s back
in terms of its impact on insecurity and the last nail in the coffin of
morality in Nigeria in terms of the country’s descent into the abyss of moral
debauchery which began a long time ago.
“Of course we know where Kalu is coming from.
This lawmaker spoke in Akure, the capital of Ondo State on Monday 17th
May, 2021. Nigerians will recall that Governor Rotimi Akeredolu of Ondo State
has been advocating for the legalisation of cannabis since 2019. There is no
doubt that he has not given up. Kalu is his latest recruit into his cannabis
promotion camp.
“The Akeredolu school of thought is only
thinking of the material aspect and economic gains obtainable from the
legalisation of cannabis sativa (also known as Indian hemp). According to Kalu,
The Global Industrial Hemp Market which was valued $5b in 2019 is projected to
reach $36b by 2026. He also argued that countries like Malawi, Zambia,
Zimbabwe, Lesotho and South Africa have legalised cannabis. In addition, he contended
that marijuana is medicinal, that it would create jobs, boost foreign exchange
(with an estimated value of $125 billion by 2025).
“We know about all these but has Kalu and his
principal, Akeredolu, given the ‘Nigerian condition’ any thought? Have they put
in place the necessary precautions? Do Nigerians obey laws? Do they listen to
simple instructions? Where else in the world do you have people driving in the
opposite direction (one way) when there are bold traffic signs warning against
it?
“Has Kalu thought of thousands of innocent
lives cut short by commercial drivers who indulge in taking drugs at the motor
parks and immediately jump inside their vehicles to take unsuspecting Nigerians
to their early graves? Can Kalu convince us that those who burned hundreds of
brand new luxurious buses of the Lagos State Government during the #EndSARS
protests were sober and totally drug-free? Cannabis had not been legalised at
that time. Does he want a proliferation of that disaster by giving easier
access to cannabis?
“Nigeria is passing through unimaginable
social trauma at this period. The crime rate is very high and it is mostly
induced by drug. Suicide is rising by the day and many cases have been traced
to drugs. The major point raised by Kalu and Akeredolu has been economic
benefit but what have the politicians done with all the billions of dollars
from oil all these years?
“The Bible says, ‘For what shall
it profit a man if he shall gain the whole world but lose his own soul’ (Mark
8:36)? What does Nigeria stand to gain if it makes billions of dollars from
cannabis but destroys the country? You cannot sow the wind without reaping the
whirlwind. We already have large number of youths whose lives have been ruined
by taking drugs even without legalising cannabis. What then should we expect if
we eventually make it legal? Students, area boys, cultists will go haywire. Drug-related
cases will increase in psychriatic hospitals.
“Cannabis may have its benefits but the
disadvantages outway the advantages. We therefore call on the House of
Representatives to reject any attempt to smuggle the cannabis bill into the
hallowed House. This House must not become the House of Marijuana. It must
remain the House of Reform, Progress and Dignity.
“We advise Governor Akeredolu to drop his
cannabis dream for massive investment in food production. Our people are
hungry. Our land is fertile. Give us yam, rice and cassava pyramids. No to drug
addiction. No to marijuana.
Professor Ishaq Akintola,
Director,
Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC)
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