News

NAFDAC Blasts VDM Over Comment On Onitsha Drug Market Raid

ByTitilope Adako

PublishedMay 27, 2025

The National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) has blasted social media activist Martins Otse, popularly known as VeryDarkMan, over statements made about its recent enforcement activities in major open drug markets.

NAFDAC accused the influencer of making comments capable of inciting traders and the public against the agency’s regulatory efforts.

The agency was reacting to a viral video where VeryDarkMan alleged that traders at Onitsha’s Bridge Head Market were asked to pay N700,000 before reopening their shops.

In a statement issued on Monday, the Director-General of NAFDAC, Prof Mojisola Adeyeye, said law enforcement agencies had been alerted to determine whether the influencer’s actions breached the Cybercrime Act.

Adeyeye said, “This individual has urged people to defy NAFDAC’s regulatory operations. Such conduct undermines our efforts to clean up markets like Bridge Head, where banned drugs have been found.”

She described the video as “misleading” and warned that inciting traders could endanger national health and safety.

According to her, shops that remained sealed were those linked to narcotics banned in the agency’s database. She accused the traders of trying to distract the public from their offences.

“All law-abiding citizens should go about their business. Those promoting fake drugs and insecurity will face the law,” she said.

NAFDAC, she added, is committed to ensuring only safe and quality medicines circulate in the country, especially for vulnerable groups such as pregnant women and people with chronic diseases.

Between February 9 and March 27, 2025, the agency conducted raids in Lagos (Idumota), Aba (Ariaria), and Onitsha (Bridge Head), seizing substandard and banned drugs worth over a trillion naira.

None of the affected shops met minimum standards for drug storage or had valid registration with the Pharmacy Council of Nigeria.

Adeyeye noted that the agency acted under its legal mandate and the Counterfeit and Fake Drugs Act, which prohibits selling drugs in markets and motor parks.

She revealed that, after intervention by state governments, NAFDAC granted traders a moratorium to move into a Coordinated Wholesale Centre.

The Bridge Head Market reopened on March 9, with over 2,500 traders and 3,500 shops returning after undergoing regulatory checks.

The NAFDAC DG stressed that online influence would not derail its operations, promising continued collaboration with security agencies to identify and prosecute offenders.

Titilope Adako

Titilope Adako is a talented and intrepid journalist, dedicated to shedding light on the untold stories of Osun State and Nigeria. Through incisive reporting, she tackles a broad spectrum of topics, from politics and social justice to culture and entertainment, with a commitment to accuracy, empathy, and inspiring positive change.