Return Seized Goods from Onitsha Drug Market – IPOB Tells NAFDAC

The Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) has called on the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) to return goods confiscated during a raid at the Ogbo Ogwu Drug Market in Onitsha, Anambra State.

In a statement released by its Media and Publicity Secretary, Comrade Emma Powerful, IPOB alleged that NAFDAC officials carried out a midnight operation in the market, during which surveillance cameras were disabled, shops were broken into, and goods were seized under the claim of targeting counterfeit drugs. The group criticized the secrecy and forcefulness of the operation, questioning the transparency and fairness of the agency’s approach.

Although IPOB reiterated its opposition to the sale of fake or substandard drugs, it expressed concern over what it described as the indiscriminate seizure of traders’ goods without their presence and without providing clear proof that all confiscated items were indeed counterfeit. The group raised a series of questions to NAFDAC, including the rationale behind conducting the operation at night, the decision to block CCTV footage, and the justification for sealing the entire market—thereby impacting both guilty and innocent traders.

IPOB urged the agency to adopt a more professional and accountable method in its fight against counterfeit drugs. It proposed that NAFDAC consider setting up permanent offices within major drug markets to enable proper regulation and avoid heavy-handed raids.

The raid in Onitsha came as part of a wider operation in February during which NAFDAC cracked down on several markets across the country in an effort to curb the distribution of fake pharmaceutical products.