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NAFDAC Warns Nigerians, Says Drug Hawkers Are Merchants Of Death

Published

2 years ago

August 8, 2023

The National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control, NAFDAC, has described many drug hawkers as merchants of death, who knowingly or unknowingly, expose lifesaving medicines to the vagaries of inclement weather, thereby degrading the active ingredients to the things that endanger human life.

Speaking at the South East zonal media sensitization workshop on the dangers of drug hawking and ripening of fruits with calcium carbide in Awka, the Director General of NAFDAC, Professor Moji Adeyeye said most of the perpetrators are semi-literate, who even parade themselves as Doctors and sometimes prescribe drugs to unsuspecting members of the public.

Adeyeye, who spoke through the Director (Chemical Evaluation and Research) in NAFDAC, Dr Leonard Omokpariola said that despite the concern and alarm raised by many organizations on the looming dangers and health implications, the activities have continued across the country.

The DG said: “It is dangerous to hawk drugs and ripe fruits with chemicals. Despite NAFDAC’s activities through enforcement and seizures, the perpetrators have continued.

“They sell their products cheap because they are not the genuine ones. Drugs are sensitive lifesaving commodities and should never, under any circumstance, be sold in the open market because there are standard storage conditions for them.

“These products they sell are poisons and should never be taken as they do not contain active ingredients and therefore cannot cure any ailment.

“Any drug hawkers arrested by NAFDAC will be prosecuted and and will be made to face jail terms.”

On the riping of fruits with dangerous carbide, Adeyeye said the action is rampant in many parts of the country, especially in the urban areas.

According to her, calcium has the capacity and tendency to degrade and break down micro nutrients and turn them to chemicals that are of no use to the body.

“They use the dangerous gas which is used for welding to ripen fruits. It reduces oxygen supply system to the body and contains a lot of impurities.

“It causes dizziness and mood alteration and can cause sleeping disorder, mouth cancer, skin rashes, kidney problem and sometimes, cancer.

“What is used in riping fruits is ethylene gas.”

NAFDAC director of public affairs, Dr. Abubakar Jimoh solicited the cooperation of the media in the battle against drug hawking.

He observed that the agency, since its inception, has continued to sanitize the drug and food industry, lamenting that in spite of the efforts, many people have continued to undermine its activities.

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BREAKING: ‎Court Sentences Nnamdi Kanu To Life Imprisonment For Terrorism

Published

5 hours ago

November 20, 2025

Editor

Nnamdi Kanu, leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), has been sentenced to life imprisonment by a Federal High Court in Abuja after being convicted on all seven counts of terrorism filed against him.

Justice James Omotosho, delivering judgment in Kanu’s trial, described him as a terrorist whose actions have led to bloodshed and destabilization in the South-East.

He said Kanu, who portrayed himself as a defender of his people, has instead endangered lives and national security.

“The court finds that the defendant, Nnamdi Kanu, is an international terrorist and must be treated accordingly,” Justice Omotosho declared.

The judge emphasized that the prosecution presented credible and sufficient evidence to prove the case against Kanu. He also noted that Kanu failed to enter a defense, choosing instead to rest his case on the prosecution’s evidence.

Justice Omotosho is still delivering the remaining part of the judgment.

News

JUST IN: Nigerian Govt Demands Death Sentence On Nnamdi Kanu

Published

5 hours ago

November 20, 2025

Editor

The Nigerian government has demanded the imposition of death sentence on Nnamdi Kanu following his conviction on terrorism charges.

Counsel to the Federal Government, Adegboyega Awomolo, SAN, informed the court that the sections of the law under which Kanu was charged and convicted carried death sentence without any option.

Addressing the court after the pronouncement, the senior lawyer said the court has no discretion to exercise than to impose maximum punishment on him in line with the dictates of the law.

Awomolo held that Kanu throughout the trial did not show remorse for the offences he committed against the Federal Republic of Nigeria but chose to be militant, arrogant and unruly in his attitude.

He also demanded that all properties seized from Kanu be forfeited to the Federal Government.

The prosecution counsel equally demanded that Kanu be taken to prison where his security will be guaranteed till when the judgment against him would be executed.

News

JUST IN: Nigerian Separatist Leader Convicted On Terrorism Charges

Published

7 hours ago

November 20, 2025

Editor

A court in Nigeria has found separatist leader Nnamdi Kanu guilty of terrorism 10 years after he was first arrested.

The court said it was satisfied that Kanu had made a series of broadcasts to incite violence and killings, as part of his campaign for a separate state in south-east Nigeria, known as Biafra.

Kanu has so far been convicted on six of the seven charges he faced, with the judge continuing to deliver his ruling.

A relatively obscure figure, Kanu’s popularity surged in 2009 when he started Radio Biafra, a station that called for an independent state for the Igbo people broadcast to Nigeria from London.

Though he grew up in south-eastern Nigeria, where he attended the University of Nsukka, Kanu moved to the UK before graduating and acquired British nationality.

In 2014, he set up the Indigenous People Of Biafra (Ipob), a movement demanding independence.

Ipob was banned as a terrorist organisation in 2017. Its armed wing – the Eastern Security Network – has been accused of killings and other acts of violence in recent years.

Delivering his judgement, Judge James Omotosho said: “Mr Kanu knew what he was doing, he was bent on carrying out these threats without consideration to his own people.

“From the incontroverted evidence, it is clear that the defendant carried out preparatory act of terrorism.

“He had the duty to explain himself but failed to do so.”

Ahead of the verdict, Kanu insisted that proceedings could not continue because he had not yet filed his final written address, accusing the judge of bias and not understanding the law.

The verdict was delivered after Kanu had been forcibly removed from the courtroom for unruly behaviour.

He was first arrested in October 2015 but he jumped bail in 2017 and left the country after a military raid on his home. The court later revoked his bail in March 2019 and he was re-arrested in 2021 in Kenya.

The calls for Biafran independence date back many years.

In 1967 Igbo leaders declared a Biafran state, but after a brutal civil war, which led to the deaths of up to a million people, the secessionist rebellion was defeated.