The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has announced the sudden death of its newly appointed Cross River State Commander, CN Ogbonna Maurice Uzoma.
This was disclosed in a statement made available to ThelensNG by the Director of Media and Advocacy at the anti-narcotics agency, Femi Babafemi, on Friday.
According to the statement, the report of Maurice’s death was brought to the attention of the Chairman/Chief Executive Officer of NDLEA, Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa, in Maiduguri, Borno State, where he was attending a retreat for Heads of Agencies, organised by the Federal Ministry of Justice.
“The late Commander was recently appointed and posted to take over leadership of the Cross River State Command of the Agency. He resumed on 18th August 2025 and took a temporary accommodation in a hotel in Calabar pending when he settles into a befitting accommodation.
“CN Ogbonna has been up and doing at his new Command and was billed to lead his officers on some scheduled engagements at 10 a.m. on Thursday 18th September 2025 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 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 investigation of the cause of death,” the statement noted.
Babafemi revealed that Gen. Marwa has directed the Zonal Commander of Zone 14, ACGN Mathew Ewah, to relocate to Calabar to assist in the ongoing police investigation.
While commiserating with the family of the deceased senior officer, the NDLEA boss said that the Agency stands with the family in this trying moment, and prayed that God would comfort them and grant the departed eternal rest.
