Proscribed Igbo separatist group, the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), has accused officials of the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) of looting goods at the popular Onitsha drug market known as Ogbo Ogwu, located at Head Bridge, Onitsha, in Anambra State.
The Biafra agitators in a statement on Thursday by its Media and Publicity Secretary, Emma Powerful, said the raids were carried out at night under the guise of searching for fake drugs stored in the market.
In the statement, Powerful also accused the NAFDAC operatives of allegedly blocking all CCTV cameras in the market before breaking into shops and carting away goods, which they later branded as fake drugs.
He further alleged that in all the raids and seizures, NAFDAC did not provide evidence of burning the confiscated drugs as claimed.
The group questioned the agency’s motives, asking why the raid was conducted at midnight in the absence of shop owners and why surveillance cameras were deliberately obstructed, and demanded answers on how NAFDAC determined that the seized drugs were counterfeit and where the confiscated goods were deposited.
The group stated that though it does not endorse the proliferation of fake drugs, but stressed that while tackling the menace of fake drugs is crucial, the regulatory agencies must act with professionalism and respect for citizens’ rights.
“IPOB condemns the peddlers of fake drugs. At the same time, we condemn the criminal raids by NAFDAC on people’s shops in their absence while blackmailing all the traders as dealers of fake drugs.
“The action of blocking the surveillance cameras with black nylon bags is a criminal act, and in every shop at the market the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control broke into people’s stores and shops.
“This criminal activity by the notorious NAFDAC officers was conducted in the middle of the night.
“NAFDAC looted people’s shops in Onitsha and branded all the drugs they carted away as fake drugs without showing the evidence that the drugs were indeed fake.
“The questions that NAFDAC must answer are: Why raid people’s shops in the middle of the night in the absence of the owners?
“Why did NAFDAC criminal officers block the cameras in people’s shops in the market while conducting those raids?
“How did NAFDAC determine whether the drugs they carted away were fake or genuine?
“Where did NAFDAC deposit all the drugs they claimed were fake.
Why did NAFDAC seal the entire drug market punishing both the guilty and the innocent?
“IPOB does not encourage or support the inimical activities of fake drugs peddlers in the Onitsha market, but NAFDAC must apply citizens’ rights, decorum, and professionalism and not act like a rogue agency.
“The Nigerian government agencies always apply a heavy-hand approach at any given opportunity against the Ndigbo and the carrot approach when dealing with other ethnic groups.
“NAFDAC should do well to return the genuine goods their rogue staff looted from the owners at Onitsha’s Head Bridge Drugs market or Ogbo Ogwu,” the group said.