Over one thousand traders and dealers across Aba, the commercial hub of Abia State have sent a “Save Our Souls (SOS)” message to Governor Alex Otti to interface with the National Agency For Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) over the sealing of their business premises for over two weeks.
The traders who spoke to journalists behind their major business centre at the Ekumi Plaza, behind Ariaria International Market, lamented that they have become victims of NAFDAC’s operation against dealers of substandard and falsified drugs because they share the same plaza with the Ekumi Plaza Patent and Proprietary Medicine Dealers Association (EPPMDA).
Addressing journalists, Mr Chibuike Johnson Eze, Chairman of Beauty and Hair Making Accessories at Ekumi Plaza, said that they are not against the activities of NAFDAC, but said it should be done with empathy and not to be seen as punishing the innocent because of the guilty.
“The Ekumi Plaza has about 1300 shops. Out of that amount, dealers in hair beauty and accessories occupy about 1000 shops, while our neighbours who deal with patent and proprietary medicine occupy just about 300 shops.
“I don’t see the reason those looking for some persons among the other three hundred existing as medicine dealers will turn around to punish and destabilize the businesses of over 1000 innocent hardworking businessmen.
“You can see that all my people are wandering up and down with no place to display their goods.
“For the past two weeks, we’ve been at home doing nothing just because we share the same environment with people that deal on drugs.
“There are separate lines between us and them, but the security people and NAFDAC took interest in us when we have no business with whatever that’s happening in that other line of business.
“We only sell hair and beauty accessories. NAFDAC should go after those they’re looking for.
“We’re calling on Governor Alex Otti to intervene and end this suffering. We cannot be punished for an offence we didn’t commit. People no longer have money to take care of their families.
“They’ve searched our shops but found nothing. We know nothing about drugs.
“Our business is purely different from those A looking for. We’re also calling on our House of Representatives members to come and help us and speak with NAFDAC on this matter.
“They should please open our shop for us. We don’t have any other business except trading.”
Adding his voice, Mr Uchechukwu Victor Chukwu lamented that the Hair Beauty and Make-up Accessories Dealers are still living in shock over what is currently happening on their business premises, but cannot understand why they should be punished for the crime of others.
“We just went home on Saturday, coming out to the market on Tuesday last two weeks after the weekend’s trading, we saw armed cars, and military men over our business premises fully armed.
“When you see such a thing, there’s no sane, ordinary citizen like myself here that will go there to meet them when you don’t understand what’s happening. So, a lot of us didn’t go closer.
“However, we later got the information that they were searching for fake drugs. We felt that it was something that’ll last just last for at least one week, but it’s getting beyond two weeks now.
“We’re not against what they’re doing, which is their job, but they need to face their job and leave us alone.
“In which law can someone suffer for what he doesn’t know about? Why should we suffer from a crime? We don’t know when and how it was committed. We have families. The majority of us are married with children and we’ve been staying at home for over two weeks.
“We’re pleading with Abia State Governor and other top individuals here to intervene in this. They’ve checked those of us who sell dryers and hair, but they found nothing and ended up locking up our shops without giving us hope.
“What they told us the day they addressed us was that when one finger touches palm oil, it circulates to others that we should exercise patience, which we see as unfair because we don’t sell drugs. Why punish us?
Mrs Amarachi Chukwu, another dealer of Hair Beauty and Make-up Accessories said that the most challenging situation is that most of the women do the same businesses with their husbands and stay in the market together.
“What we’re seeing now is that both husband and wife now have their sources of income completely shut down.
“Majority of us are finding it hard to pay our children’s school fees because our shops were locked up during the early stages of school fees demands.
“Who will pay when both parents do nothing anymore? This is very unfair to us and our children because we’re not those NAFDAC are looking for.
“Feeding is now a serious problem. We plead with the Governor to do something about this.”
