Drug dealers at Ogbo-Ogwu International Market, Bridge-head, Onitsha, Anambra State yesterday closed their shops and embarked on a peaceful demonstration against what they termed excesses of one Sergeant Onyekachi Ogbonna, a policeman from Fegge Police Division attached to NAFDAC.
Specifically, the drug dealers accused Sergeant Ogbonna of illegally arresting, harassing and intimidating their customers from far and near in order to extort huge sums of monies from them.
The drug dealers, numbering over 20,000 carried placards with inscriptions: “Sgt. Ogbonna, leave us alone. Sgt. Ogbonna, stop chasing away our valued customers. Sgt. Ogbonna, shame unto you. Sgt. Ogbonna, authorities concerned should remove this bad egg in police force for us. Sgt. Ogbonna, we are not fools. How did you manage to own fleet of cars and buildings? EFCC should investigate him properly.”
While the exercise lasted for about three hours, the demonstrators moved round the Bridge-head market in the peaceful protest, under the guidance of the chairman of the caretaker committee of the drug market, Hon. Anthony Ezioba and members of the caretaker committee of the drug market.
At a stage, the demonstrators threatened to take their protest to the nearby Fegge Police station, but the caretaker committee locked up the major exit gate from the market and discouraged them from going to the station as they could have an open and bloody confrontation with policemen in the Division.
Speaking to newsmen shortly after the exercise, Chairman of the market caretaker committee, Hon.Ezioba disclosed that the protest was the most civilized option adopted by the committee to express their anger to the authorities concerned because according to him, left for the traders, they would have launched a physical attack against Sergeant Ogbonna while allegedly carrying out his nefarious operations inside the market.
Ezioba further disclosed that though each time they had opportunity to interact with the said Sergeant Ogbonna, he usually boasted to them that he makes financial returns to the police authorities after extorting as much as N5 million, N8 million or N10 million as the case may be.
Also speaking, the Public Relations Officer, PRO of the market, Marychaplet Igboamaeze; another member of the committee, Fred Ezenwa and a stakeholder, Hon. Obodoeze Ogbodoson, lamented that Ogbonna’s modus operandi is that he has so many informants who usually call and tell him on phone that a customer has just arrived the market with huge sums of money and at once he would go to an exit point and wait for the customer.
Igboamaeze, Ezenwa and Ogbodoson further lamented that when the customer finished his purchases and wanted to go, he would arrest him and commandeer the vehicle load of drugs he bought to the police station on trump up charges that the drugs he purchased were either fakes, unwholesome or contraband and will start demanding for millions of naira from the buyer, which usually end up in extorting the customer who after his ugly encounter, would swear never to come to Onitsha again for any reason.
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Also in a press statement, the committee noted that since the inauguration of the caretaker committee by the state government in November, 2018, the committee members have tried as much as they could to be law abiding and at the same time, adhered to all the stipulated guidelines and directives issued by both the federal government, pharmaceutical council of Nigeria, NAFDAC, ministry of Health and other relevant bodies in sanitizing the market.
“We have never obstructed NAFDAC officials, police or NDLEA from carrying out their duties and have also gone out of our way to advise our members and give relevant information that could aid these agencies in succeeding in their functions. The market has also been sanitized of fake, adulterated and pirated drugs but unfortunately, Ogbonna and his conscripted spies have turned us into cash cows, milking our members dry and crippling our businesses.”
“Hiding under the cover of NAFDAC, just because he was attached to NAFDAC, Ogbonna has the penchant for demanding for operational license from our registered members, coercion and threat of involving NAFDAC has been his usual style of operation and we are raising this alarm because he has overreached and constituted himself with his lieutnants/informants into both the arresting, prosecuting and fining/financial sanctioning authority all rolled into one.”
We therefore call on NAFDAC and police authorities to redeploy Ogbonna. We also call for a probe into his activities in Onitsha Bridge-head drug market. The relevant anti-graft agencies like EFCC should beam their searchlight on him and evaluate his assets and investments whether they are commensurate with his legitimate earnings as a police sergeant.
“We pledge our continued allegiance to the relevant Government authorities and our renewed commitment to carrying out our business with utmost decency and regard to best ethical standards.”
When contacted on phone, Sgt. Ogbonna declined to make any statement but rather switched off his phone, after hearing from newsmen.
The Divisional Police Officer at Fegge, Rabiu Garba (CSP) told newsmen on phone that he was not aware of the rift between Sgt Ogbonna and the drug dealers, neither has the committee drew his attention to that effect. Also, the Divisional police Officer at Bridge-head market, Eddy Okeke, a lawyer, told newsmen in his office that he was not also aware of such a complaint from the traders.
However, the State Police Public Relations Officer, PPRO, Haruna Mohammed (SP), told newsmen on phone that the most effective way of handling this type of matter would have been for the traders to channel their grievances in writing to the state commissioner of police who will in turn look into it critically and if need be, summon Sgt Ogbonna for interrogations, rather than embarking on a demonstration of such a volatile nature.
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