In his show of support for the global campaign against drug abuse and illicit drug trafficking, Nigeria’s Vice President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo (SAN), on Friday evening attended the premiere of a movie titled “The Silent Baron.”
The film was produced by Mr. Ifeanyi Ukaeru, in partnership with the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency to highlight the dangers of the abuse and trafficking in Nigeria.
Osinbajo was accompanied by the Executive Chairman of the NDLEA, Brig. Gen. Buba Marwa (rtd); the Director-General of the National Council for Arts and Culture (NCAC), Otunba Olusegun Runsewe, and other top government officials.
His speech was contained in a statement released on Saturday by Laolu Akande, Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media & Publicity, Office of the Vice President.
The movie premiere is part of activities marking the 2021 United Nations International Day Against Drug Abuse and Illicit Drug Trafficking which falls on the 26th of June, every year. It is produced by Ekwe Nche Entertainment Ltd, the NDLEA, among other partners.
The movie features some internal challenges of agencies fighting drug barons and highlights how the couriers are recruited including by fooling ladies and their parents with false promises of taking the ladies abroad.
Starring some top Nollywood actors, the movie features the duplicitous life of a young man named Anselm, disguised as a foreign-based professional who only visits Nigeria on short vacations. He lures young ladies with gifts, alluring words, and under false pretenses as couriers for his illicit drug trafficking business. In the end, he was caught.
The movie brings to the limelight, the commendable role of the NDLEA in the fight against drug trafficking especially at a time when the agency is aggressively exposing the menace with a significant number of arrests in the last couple of months.
After watching the movie, a very delighted Vice President met some of the actors who were also present at the premiere, interacted briefly, and took group photographs with the actors, movie producers, and the production crew before departing from the event.
