Over 1,000 cosmetics, beauty and make-up accessories dealers in Ekumi plaza, Aba, Abia State, have sent a Save Our Soul message to Governor Alex Otti and the National Agency For Food and Drug Administration and Control, NAFDAC, over the sealing of their business premises for over two weeks.
The Ekumi Plaza, which has a drug section, located behind Ariaria International Market, Aba, was sealed two weeks ago by NAFDAC, in the ongoing crackdown on expired, fake, substandard and unregistered drugs in markets across the nation.
The dealers lamented that they are dying of hunger and have become victims of NAFDAC’s operation against dealers of substandard and fake drugs because they share the same plaza with the Ekumi Plaza Patent and Proprietary Medicine Dealers Association, EPPMDA,.
Briefing newsmen in Aba, Chairman of Beauty and Hair Making Accessories at Ekumi Plaza, Mr. Chibuike Johnson Eze, said that they are not against the activities of NAFDAC, but that the operations should be done with a human face and not to be seen as punishing the innocent because of the guilty.
He said; “The Ekumi Plaza has about 1300 shops. Out of that amount, dealers in hair beauty and accessories occupy about 1,000 shops, while our neighbours who deal with patent and proprietary medicine occupy just about 300 shops.
“I don’t see the reason those looking for some persons among the other 300 existing as medicine dealers will turn around to punish and destabilize the businesses of over 1,000 innocent hardworking businessmen.
“You can see that all my people are wandering up and down with no place to display their goods. For the past two weeks, we have been at home doing nothing just because we share the same environment with people who deal with drugs.
“There are separate lines between us and them, but the security people and NAFDAC took interest in us when we have no business with whatever is happening in that other line of business. We only sell hair and beauty accessories. NAFDAC should go after those they are looking for.
“We are calling on Governor Alex Otti to intervene and end this suffering. We cannot be punished for an offence we didn’t commit. People no longer have money to take care of their families. They have searched our shops but found nothing. We know nothing about drugs.
Our business is purely different from those they are looking for. We are also calling on our House of Representatives member, Chief Alex Ikwecheghi, to come and help us and speak with NAFDAC on this matter. They should please open our shop for us. We don’t have any other business except trading.”
Aso speaking, Mr. Uchechukwu Victor Chukwu, lamented that the Hair Beauty and Make-up Accessories Dealers are still in shock over what is currently happening on their business premises, but cannot understand why they should be punished for the crime of others.
“We just went home on Saturday, coming out to the market on Tuesday last two weeks after the weekend’s trading, we saw an armoured personnel carrier with fully armed military men over our business premises. When you see such a thing, there is no sane, ordinary citizen like myself here that will go there to meet them when you don’t understand what is happening.
“However, we later got the information that they are searching for fake drugs. We felt that it is something that willl last just last for at least one week, but it is getting beyond two weeks now. We are not against what they are doing, which is their job, but they need to face their job and leave us alone.
“Which law can someone suffer for what he doesn’t know about? Why should we suffer from a crime we don’t know when and how it was committed? We have families. The majority of us are married with children and we’ve been staying at home for over two weeks.
We are pleading with the Governor to intervene in this. They have checked those of us who sell dryers and hair, but they found nothing and ended lup ocking up our shops for two weeks now without giving us hope.
“What they told us the day they addressed us was that when one finger touches palm oil, it circulates to others that we should exercise patience, which we see as unfair because we don’t sell drugs. Why punish us?
Mrs Amarachi Chukwu, another dealer of Hair Beauty and Make-up Accessories Dealers said that the most challenging situation is that most the women in their line of business stay in the market with their husbands and do the same business.
“What we’re seeing now is that both husband and wife now have their sources of income completely shutdown. Majority of us a finding is hard to pay our children school fees because our shops were locked up during the early stages of school fees demands.
“Who will pay when both parents do nothing anymore? This is very unfair to us and our children because we’re not those NAFDAC are looking for. Feeding is now a serious problem. We plead with the Governor to do something about this.”
