NDLEA speaks on commander’s death in Calabar hotel

The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has confirmed the death of its Cross River State Commander, CN Ogbonna Maurice Uzoma.

The NDLEA, in a statement issued by its Director of Media and Advocacy, Femi Babafemi, on Friday, September 19, 2025, said the late Commander was recently appointed and posted to take over leadership of the Cross River State Command of the anti-drug agency.

Babafemi disclosed that Ogbonna resumed on August 18, 2025, and took temporary accommodation in a hotel in Calabar, the capital of Cross River State, pending when he settles into a befitting accommodation.

Babafemi said Ogbonna was doing well at his new command and was billed to lead his officers on some scheduled engagements at 10 a.m. on Thursday, September 18, but when his officers didn’t hear from him by 9 a.m., they went to his hotel room in company of the hotel staff.

The NDLEA spokesman stated that several knocks at the commander’s door and calls to his telephone line went unanswered.

NDLEA commander found dead in Cross River hotel

He noted: “Attempts by the hotel staff to open or force the door open from outside failed, after which one of the hotel attendants had to go through the ceiling aperture to enter the room and open the door from inside, where they found the Commander’s lifeless body.

“The Police Command in the state was promptly alerted after which the Commissioner of Police personally visited the scene while the police continue with investigation of the cause of death.”

Babafemi added that the Chairman/Chief Executive Officer of NDLEA, Brig Gen Mohamed Buba Marwa (rtd), has since directed the Zonal Commander, Zone 14 Command of NDLEA, Mathew Ewah, to relocate to Calabar, to assist police investigation.

Marwa, while commiserating with the family of the deceased senior officer, said the agency stands with the family in this trying moment, and prayed that God will comfort them and grant the departed eternal rest.

The Star