Onitsha Drug Market Exco Meeting Turns Bloody, Five Injured

Onitsha Drug Market Exco Meeting Turns Bloody, Five InjuredThe meeting of line Chairmen and Secretaries of the Onitsha Patent and Proprietary Medicine Dealers Union (OPPMDU) at the Onitsha Bridge Head medicine dealers market turned into violence, which left no fewer than five persons injured after about 40 unknown thugs have stormed the meeting and turned it upside-down.

The trouble was said to have started when the chairmen and secretaries of the various lines in the market gathered at the market evangelism office of the union. They intended to discuss the way forward over the botched election of officers in the market since last year amidst threat of closure of the market by the Federal Government over the policy of non-sale of drugs in the open market.

The suspected thugs have stormed the meeting venue with canes and other dangerous weapons and allegedly unleashed mayhem on the line chairmen and their secretaries, Vanguard reports. The attackers were said to be working for the incumbent Chairman of the caretaker.

The thugs allegedly ordered the meeting closed with immediate effect, saying that the group did not get permission to convene the meeting before descending on the elected chairmen and secretaries and at once, they started beating and brutalizing everybody, smashed phones and chairs.

The Coordinating Chairman of the forum and Chairman of Tablet line in the market, Uchenna Ubah, who received serious bruises from the fracas also had his eye glasses broken by the thugs as many ran for safety.

RELATED: Pregnant Woman Beaten To Coma In Onitsha

The secretary of Unity line and member of the Civil Liberties Organisation in Anambra State, Comrade Ugochukwu Oforma, condemned the act by the thugs, described their action as barbaric.

Meanwhile, the victims have accused the Caretaker Committee Chairman of the market, Ugochukwu Nwosu, of trying to perpetuate himself into office despite the fact that his three month tenure expired since October, 2013. They further called on the State Governor Willie Obiano through the Ministry of Commerce and Industry to remove the market of thugs and also conduct a democratic election in the market as the only solution out of the looming crisis.

The Caretaker Committee Chairman, Ugochukwu Nwosu, when contacted, said he would talk at the appropriate time.

The matter has been reported at Fegge Police Station while the DPO, Rabiu Garba, who confirmed the incident, told the newsmen that he had just invited both parties for interrogations and / or dialogue.