NDLEA Debunks Taraba Nursing College Drug Claim

A viral headline claimed drugs were hidden inside a nursing college. The agency it was attributed to says none of it happened.

The NDLEA Taraba drug bunker denial was issued by the agency's state command, dismissing a social media report claiming operatives uncovered a suspected drug bunker at the Taraba State College of Nursing Sciences in Jalingo.

The claim circulated online under the headline "NDLEA Uncovers Suspected Drug Bunker at Taraba College of Nursing Sciences," accompanied by photographs and a narrative suggesting that the agency had carried out an operation at the institution.

In a statement issued Tuesday by Public Relations Officer Mawoh Paul Voloh, the Taraba State Command said flatly that no such operation ever took place at the college or its surrounding area.

"The photographs and narrative being circulated online should not be attributed to the NDLEA Taraba Command. It has no official record of such an operation or report," the statement read.

The command was clear that the images and claims making the rounds do not represent any official NDLEA action.

The NDLEA clarified that its actual anti-drug work in the state falls under Operation Restore Order, an ongoing initiative focused on identifying, disrupting, and dismantling illicit drug networks across Taraba. The command's genuine operations have included real seizures in the state in recent months, including a large truck-borne consignment of tramadol, pentazocine, and other controlled substances intercepted in Jalingo earlier this year.

The command described the viral publication as misleading, warning that it risks wrongly linking the college, its staff, and its students to illegal drug activity, causing reputational harm to people who had nothing to do with the claim.

It urged both the public and media outlets to verify information with the appropriate authorities before publishing or sharing reports about NDLEA operations.

This is not the first time the same institution has had to publicly deny circulating misinformation. Earlier this year, the college's management similarly refuted a separate viral claim accusing it of extorting fees from students following a NELFUND loan disbursement, also describing that report as misleading and unverified before publication.