Buba Marwa, the chairman of the National Drugs Law Enforcement Agency, has said he has asked for permission to conduct drug tests as part of the screening of ruling All Progressives Congress candidates for the 2023 presidential election.

Mr Marwa, who spoke at an award event for NDLEA officers in Abuja on Wednesday afternoon, said he hopes other political parties will also participate in the exercise.

Bola Tinubu, Yemi Osinbajo and Rotimi Amaechi are among APC politicians who have declared their intention to run for president.

How Mr Marwa planned to carry out the exercise was not immediately clear, but his proposal might be due to previous charges of drug use among politicians.

In the early 1990s, Mr Tinubu, a former Lagos governor, was arrested and charged with trafficking heroin and other hard drugs in the United States. He forfeited hundreds of thousands of dollars to the U.S. government following his indictment at the time. He denies wrongdoing.

Femi Babafemi, a spokesman for the NDLEA, told Peoples Gazette additional details of the drug test for politicians will be made public later.