Onitsha drug market closed down by thugs hired by Pharmaceutical Council of Nigeria for capacity seminar

www.odogwublog.com reports that pandemonium erupted today at the Onitsha drugs market, following the closure of the market to enable all the drug dealers participate on the last day of a two-day capacity building workshop for stakeholders in Coordinated Wholesale Centres, CWCs, organized by the Pharmaceutical Council of Nigeria, PCN in the commercial city of Onitsha, Anambra state.

The pandemonium erupted during the enforcement of the market closure by a special task force believed to be have been detailed to close the market by the market leadership.

According to an eye witness, the task force had allegedly used all forms of brute force to clampdown on the traders an force them out of the market, before closing all the open shops.

Reacting to the development, Chairman of the Board of Trustees, BoT of Surgical and Scientific Allied Equipment Dealers Union, SSAEDU, Mr. Cyprian Umeh; Chairman of the Union, Sir Anselm Obiagwu and a stakeholder at the drugs market, Chidoo Anizor, accused the task force of using maximum force to carry out the market closure.

According to Umeh, Obiagwu and Anizor, the task force members, numbering over 30, some of whom they identified as members of the Movement for the Actualization of Sovereign State of Biafra, MASSOB has at about 8 a.m. stormed the market with arms and other dangerous weapons and allegedly unleashed mayhem on the traders.

Specifically, Umeh, Obiagwu and Anizor alleged that the task force did not only chase out the traders from the market and locked up their shops but also injured about 10 persons and allegedly looted their shops and destroyed goods worth millions of naira.

They accused the Uche Eze-led executive members of the drugs market of unleashing the task force on members of the Surgical Union who are not members of the drugs market, adding that some traders at the drugs market who could not afford the N40,000 seminar fee were those attacked by the task force.

However, in a swift reaction, the chairman of the drugs market, Uche Eze told newsmen at Sharon House, GRA, Onitsha, venue of the seminar that the essence of closing the market for the day was to enable all stakeholders in the drugs market participate in the workshop.

He said he was not aware of any looting of cash or damaging of goods in the market by the task force because they did not go to the market, as a result of the importance of the workshop, adding that.

Are these guys thugs or what, the confusion goes on but , confirming the pandemonium, the Divisional Police Officer, DPO at Fegge Division, Rabiu Garba (SP), described the incident as mere market politics, adding that those claiming to have been injured should state the particular hospital or hospitals they were hospitalized or how much money they lost.

Photo: Accident scene where Obiano was with emergency team