Gov. under fire over call for legalization of Indian hemp in Nigeria

Governor of Ondo State, Olawarotimi Akeredolu is currently at the receiving end of harsh criticism over his recent call for the legalization of Indian hemp.

This is just as leadership of the National Association of Nigeria Students, NANS, has called on the need to check the mental state of health of the governor.

The students’ body described his call as misplaced priority.

Gov. Akeredolu, who his currently in Thailand, had urged the Federal Government on the need to give the nod to the legalization of medicinal cannabis in the country going by the economic benefits if harnessed.

Reacting to the governor’s request, NANS President, Danielson Bamidele Akpan, stated that Akeredolu should be more concerned on delivering good governance to his people, instead of “junketing” the world over unrealistic mission, which he described as wastage of public fund.

The statement issued on Wednesday and made available to DAILY POST read, “Today, Governor Akeredolu is globally junketing with tax payers money in order to create awareness for legalisation of hard drugs and narcotic use. What a confused Chief executive! For once, we should be worried that it takes someone who purchases, uses and is addicted to hard drugs to know it’s economic prospects without caring about lives and its negative impact on the society.

“For a governor who has refused to make education a top priority to now lead an advocacy for legalisation of banned drugs that distorts thoughts and stability reveals his level of denigration of governance.

“Isn’t it a pity that in a state where education is more or less an industry and a pride, Governor Akeredolu has proven that he is on seat to retard the progress of the youths by encouraging the plantation of cannabis (Indian Hemp) against the pursuit of knowledge? This obviously is the height of his incompetence and insensitivity to the needs of the youths.

“We refuse to buy into this life threatening advocacy of addiction and retardation through promotion of hard drugs. We demand that Governor Akeredolu subject himself to a clinical drug test to determine his mental state,” the NANS President stated.

NANS leadership had in the last two weeks been having running battle with Gov. Akeredoluover the “outrageous” tuition of the two closed state-owned universities where the NANS President, Danielson Bamidele Akpan alleged that the governor chased NANS executives out of his office during a visit to resolve the issues affected the tertiary institutions.

The allegations which the governor had since denied were described as false.