Onitsha boils over closure of market; 30 injured

Posted by News Express | 1 April 2017 | 2,859 times

•Upper Iweka, Onitsha.

No fewer than 30 people were wounded Friday morning when some traders at the Onitsha Bridge Head drug market tried to resist the Onitsha from closing the market to enable the traders attend the ongoing seminar being conducted for them by the Pharmaceutical Council of Nigeria.

The crisis would have resulted to bloodbath but for the timely intervention of the Divisional Police Officer, DPO, in charge of Fegge Division of the Nigerian Police Onitsha, Mr. Rabiu Garba, who mobilised his men and personally visited the market to address the warring traders. The DPO expressed displeasure that the leadership of the market did not inform him before making announcement of the closure on Thursday; neither did they inform him yesterday that the market was actually closed, before crisis erupted.

The ongoing seminar which many traders shunned was said to be in preparation for the trader movement into the Coordinated Wholesale Center, CWC, for drug distribution, following Federal Government’s directive that there will not be open drug sale by end of July this year.

However, trouble started in the market on Thursday at about 4:00 p.m. when the leadership of the market sent some people to announce to the traders that the market would not open on Friday, but the announcement was rejected by some traders with counter-announcement that the market would open, or they would break the gates to throw it open.

This resulted to a clash that led to eight people being injured between the two groups, who threatened fire and brimstone against each other. (Vanguard)

Source: News Express