The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has mourned
the passing of Maurice Ogbonna, its Cross River state commander.
The commander was found dead on Thursday, in a hotel room in
Calabar, as his colleagues arrived to pick him up for an assignment.
In a statement on Friday, Femi Babafemi, NDLEA spokesperson,
said Ogbonna’s death was brought to the attention of Buba Marwa, the agency’s
chairman, in Maiduguri, Borno state, where he was attending a retreat organised
by the ministry of justice for heads of agencies.
Babafemi said the late commander was recently appointed and
posted to take over leadership of the agency’s Cross River command.
“He resumed on 18th August 2025 and took a temporary
accommodation in a hotel in Calabar pending when he settles into a befitting
accommodation,” the statement reads.
“CN Ogbonna has been up and doing at his new Command and was
billed to lead his officers on some scheduled engagements at 10am on Thursday
18th September 2025 but when his officers didn’t hear from him by 9am, they
went to his hotel room in company of the hotel staff while several knocks at
his door and calls to his telephone line went unanswered.
“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 the investigation of the cause of death.”
The NDLEA spokesperson said to assist the police
investigation, Marwa has directed Mathew Ewah, the zonal commander, zone 14
command of NDLEA, to relocate to Calabar.
“While commiserating with the family of the deceased senior
officer, Marwa 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
statement added.
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