BREAKING: Drug Traders Protest In Anambra Over Market Closure By NAFDAC

Traders at the Ogbo-Ogwu Bridgehead Drug Market in Onitsha, Anambra State, staged a protest on Tuesday against the ongoing closure of their shops by the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC).

Operating under the banner of Concerned and Genuine Members of Ogbo-Ogwu Drug Market, the traders expressed their distress over the situation, which they claim has caused significant hardship and financial strain.

Naija News understands that more than 2,000 demonstrators participated in the protest, carrying placards with various messages as they marched from Oshogbo Park to the River Niger Bridge in Onitsha and back to Uga Junction. They reported that at least five traders have died and many others have been hospitalized due to stress and hunger.

The protesters accused NAFDAC of demanding a payment of N2 million from each trader before allowing the market to reopen.

During the protest, the National Convener and Secretary of the Concerned Genuine Members of Ogbo-Ogwu Drug Market, Ifeanyi Chinedu, informed journalists that their shops remain locked, despite NAFDAC’s assertions that they have been reopened.

Chinedu called on the Federal Government to intervene with NAFDAC to facilitate the reopening of the market and to investigate allegations regarding the seizure of counterfeit drugs.

He maintained that NAFDAC officials unlawfully entered their shops in their absence and removed over 60 trailer loads of legitimate registered medications.

He listed some of their demands, saying, “We, the members of the Ogbo-Ogwu drug market, after our long-awaited first general meeting with the caretaker committee chairman and his executives since the invasion of the market by NAFDAC officials, made the following declarations.

“That NAFDAC invaded our various shops in our absence and carted away properly registered goods worth billions of Naira.

“They also carted away drugs from multinational companies from the USA, Germany, Turkey, and Pakistan, all of international standards and impeccable qualities.

“The claims by NAFDAC that all the drugs they carted away are fake and substandard are inhumane and malicious lies meant to tarnish the image of thousands of responsible and genuine businessmen and women at the Ogbo-Ogwu drug market.

“We challenge the Federal Government to set up a high-powered panel of inquiry to investigate the goods carted away in over 60 trailer loads with the aim of ascertaining the veracity of the claims of the NAFDAC Director-General and some of her corrupt officials.

“That the claims by NAFDAC officials that our various shops were being searched in our presence are another set of malicious and fabricated lies meant to carpet their heinous crime of barbaric breaking, entering, searching and looting of someone’s shop in his absence, including boutiques in the market in this 21st century and democratic world.”

The traders also passed a vote of no confidence on the market caretaker committee chairman and his executive and called for their immediate resignation.

They also claimed that NAFDAC has imposed a fine of ₦2 million before any shop would be reopened, saying it is for documentation purposes.

“NAFDAC has mandated that each shop owner pays ₦2 million to them before opening the market; this is ridiculous. We reject in its entirety the criminal fines imposed on us by NAFDAC and call on the Federal Minister of Health and National Security Adviser, the National Assembly, to come to our rescue.

“We demand the immediate and unconditional reopening of the market to genuine businessmen and women of the Ogbo-Ogwu drug market to ascertain the level of looting bequeathed on genuine businessmen and women in the market. Over five persons have died, and several others have been hospitalised due to depression.

“We call for the immediate prosecution of those caught with suspected fake and substandard drugs, in conjunction with the present caretaker committee, who collaborated with them to bring those deadly drugs into the market.

“We remain law-abiding to the Federal Government led by President Bola Tinubu. We also pledge our loyalty to the state government led by Prof Chukwuma Soludo,” he added.

According to The PUNCH, a trader, Uchechukwu Ola, narrated, “It’s been two months since our market was sealed, and within this period, we have not been able to feed as the shop is the only source of living we depend upon.

“We want the government to open the market; we are dealers of genuine products; the claims by NAFDAC about the market are not true. The drugs that were carted away are genuine and registered.”

However, NAFDAC’s Zonal Director, South-East, Martins Iluyomade, dismissed all the allegations, insisting that its officers carried out the enforcement exercise from February 10 to March 5, 2025, as stipulated by the law guiding the agency.

Iluyomade said all the items removed from the shops did not have NAFDAC approval while restating that the current management of NAFDAC commits to ensuring that fake drugs are stamped out from the markets.

He said, “The allegations are baseless and unfounded. The enforcement exercise took us about a month from February 10 to March 5, and we want to say we carried out the exercise as stipulated by law. Bulk volumes of narcotics and other medicines that are not approved because of their effect were confiscated from the market.

“The volume that we found during this exercise is more than enough to destabilise a country; by research, there is a correlation between them and insecurity.”