Jeff Amechi Agbodo, Onitsha

Traders at the drug market Onitsha, in Anambra State, have been warned to desist from the sale of fake drugs, adulterated and unwholesome products at the market.

New Caretaker Committee  chairman of the Onitsha Drug Market, Bridgehead  Mr. Anthony Ezioba, gave the warning during his first meeting with the 16-member committee after their inauguration, last week, by the Commissioner for Trade and Commerce in the state.

Ezioba’s advice came when a Federal High Court, sitting in Awka, recently, sentenced four traders  to 72 months imprisonment for allegedly selling fake drugs in the market.

He said that he would not hesitate to apprehend anybody caught with fake drug and hand him or her over to NAFDAC for prosecution, saying that he wanted the market to be free from fake and unwholesome products.

He said that one of the mandates given to the committee was to bring all aggrieved members together and resolve all pending issues through means of reconciliation and ensure so that peace could return to the market.

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The committee chairman also said that the reason why a caretaker committee was appointed in the market was that the tenure of the previous elected leaders elapsed in October 2018, saying that when election was about to be conducted, crisis erupted and the market was polarised into different camps which made the state government to suspend it and brought them in to restore peace and unity in the market within three months before an election.

According to him, “There is no hiding place for fake and adulterated drugs in the market and anybody found with any fake drug would be apprehended and handed over to the NAFDAC for prosecution.

“We cannot compromise on that no matter who is involved, law must take its cause just like what happened two days ago when court jailed some traders for sale of fake drugs and unwholesome products.

“We came to bring everybody together and restore peace in the market.

“So, we appealed to everybody and all the factions to mellow down or calm down because we are brothers and sisters.

“Crisis will not do all of us any good either for our business or for the  conduct of election in the market” Ezioba asserted.