Eche Nwaobasi reporting from onitsha.
The leadership of the Onitsha Bridge Head Drug Market, under the umbrella body of ‘Ogbogwu Market, Bridge Head, Onitsha,’ has averred that those who organized a protest over continued closure of the market, by officials of the National Agency for Food, Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC), are not genuine members of the market.
On Tuesday, March 25, a group of traders under the auspices of ‘Concerned Genuine Members of Ogbogwu Drugs Market,’ led by the duo of Emmanuel Ozoemena and Ifeanyi Chinedu, held a protest in Onitsha, where they brandished placards of different inscriptions depicting their anger against NAFDAC over what they described as continued closure of the drug market.
Among other claims, the protesters said that “overzealous NAFDAC officials” stormed the market without prior notice; broke into shops in the absence shop owners and traders, and finally carted away sixty (60) trailer loads of drugs worth several billions of naira, among other things.
They further noted that the claim by NAFDAC that the drug market has been re-opened is a big lie, as, according to them, the entire market is still under lock and key; adding that NAFDAC requested them to pay two million naira per shop for profiling before traders would be allowed to go into their shops.
But in a press conference yesterday in Onitsha, the Caretaker Chairman of the market, Chukwuleta Ndubuisi, said that majority of the protesters were former members of the market, who were expelled for peddling fake drugs, among other offences.
Flanked by other officers and members of the market such as Benjamin Akudi, Olisaeke Kenneth, Ihuoma Joshua, Machi Clement, Bob Onyeka and Hon Samuel, the market leader claimed that the intention of the protesters was to cause much more disaffection between traders in the market and NAFDAC, which he said, might ultimately lead to outright closure of the market.
“I, the chairman of this market, did not support their protest; the executive of this market, which are under me, did not champion this protest, and the Ogbogwu Market, Bridge Head, Onitsha, did not support it.
“We do not know the protesters. They call themselves ‘Concerned Genuine Members of Ogbogwu Market,’ but our name is Ogbogwu Market, Bridge Head, Onitsha. So, they’re not our members.
“Their leader, Ozoemena Emmanuel, who was once a member of this market, went out of business for many years now, and has turned himself into an activist – and using same to defraud people, including our traders. He does not own any shop or business center in the market,” he said; adding that Ozoemena was the one that mobilized people to beat-up NAFDAC official during the agency’s raid of the market.
The market leader, who noted that his executive have been making frantic efforts to resolve the present impasse with NAFDAC, suggested that there was no need for Onitsha traders to carry placards against the agency, since similar raids took place in Aba, Abia State, and Lagos; and traders in those markets were making efforts to resolve the crisis, and did not carry placards.