NDLEA Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Brig-Gen. Buba Marwa (retd.). Photo: NDLEA
Let me start with a confession that has become something of a running joke among those of us who work closely with the Chairman/Chief Executive of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, Brig Gen Mohamed Buba Marwa (rtd); the man simply refuses to age like the rest of us.
I witnessed this again, quite hilariously, in the last week of August, at an international conference at the University of Cambridge, United Kingdom, where he was one of the invited speakers before a distinguished gathering of global policy experts, academics, law enforcement chiefs, lawyers, and judges, among others. A good number of notable Nigerians were also present. On Tuesday, August 25, minutes before his scheduled presentation, some Nigerian delegates, eager to catch a glimpse of him and exchange pleasantries, kept asking me, “Where is the General?” He was, at that point, standing right there among them in the waiting area, dressed in a fitted deep blue suit, and not one person recognised him. It was only when he began speaking with me, and his familiar soft voice gave him away, that the penny dropped. “Ah, see the General here,” one of them exclaimed, almost in disbelief.
