ONITSHA MARKET TRADERS DISMISS CLAIMS OF N265M FAKE DRUGS. (PHOTO).

 Onitsha market traders dismiss claims of N265m fake drugs

Some traders at the Onitsha Drug Market, popularly called Ogbo-Ogwu Bridgehead Market, Onitsha, Anambra State, under the aegis of ‘Concerned and Genuine Members of Ogbo-Ogwu Market and Justice for Ogbo-Ogwu’, have dismissed the claims that another fake drugs worth over N265millon was discovered in the market.

The Caretaker Committee Chairman of the market, Chukwuleta Ndubuisi, had last week claimed that he handed over N265m worth of fake drugs from the market to the Enugu Zonal office of the National Agency for Food and Drugs Administration and Control.

Ndubuisi said some of the goods were seized in 2024 while others were confiscated after a three-month raid of the market in 2025.

But reacting to the claims in a press briefing, in Onitsha on Tuesday, the Coordinator, Concerned and Genuine Members of Ogbo-Ogwu Market and Justice for Ogbo-Ogwu, Emmanuel Ozoemena, insisted that the said products were not “fake”, but expired products voluntarily handed over by the traders concerned.

Ozoemena, flanked by other members and traders of the body, said the clarification became necessary so as to correct the “malicious misconceptions and misinformation” being peddled by the caretaker committee chairman, whom he accused of using the allegation of “fake” drugs to score cheap political points before NAFDAC.

While urging the public especially, their potential customers to disregard the claims, the group warned the Ogbo-Ogwu Market leadership to desist from playing politics with people’s lives.

The group challenged the caretaker committee chairman to provide evidence that the products were “fake”, threatening to sue him, if he fails to show evidence within a giving period of two working weeks.

Ozoemenam appealled to the Anambra State governor, Prof. Chukwuma Soludo, to dissolve the caretaker committee of the market and conduct an election to save traders from the “autocratic leadership” of current leadership led by Chukwuleta Ndubuisi.

He accused Ndubuisi of using NAFDAC officials and the Anambra State-owned security operatives to intimate and harass members of the market, lamenting that the development has resulted to low patronage in the market.