-Intersociety Disclosed In Her Letters To NAFDAC DG, Minister Of Health And Gov Soludo
…draws Gov Soludo’s attention to the complicated plight of the traders of the Onitsha Drug Market and demands the State Government’s urgent intervention to end the Market’s traders’ agony in the hands of NAFDAC
…calls for immediate removal from South-East of the Zone’s Director of NAFDAC (Dr Martins Iluyomade and senior members of his team
…calls on Government of Anambra State to publicly and strongly condemn the April 15, 2025-gruesome murder of Teacher Chioma Okeke of the Anglican Secondary School, Nnewi by the State’s security outfit (Agunaechemba), tender public apology to her Family, offset her funeral expenses, train her four kids to university level and take full responsibility for the activities of the Agunaechemba security outfit (AVG)
…strongly calls on Gov Soludo Government to publicly disclose the whereabouts and full custodial details of the remaining 37 Traditional Worshippers and Medicine Practitioners arrested across the State and held untried for more than 90 days or from Jan 28, 2025
Onitsha, Eastern Nigeria
Thursday, May 1, 2025
Highlights Of Our Letters To NAFDAC DG, Minister Of Health And Gov Soludo:
1. Our letter referenced letter to the DG of NAFDAC and the Hon Minister of Health, dated Tuesday, April 29, 2025, was duly served on the two by our lawyers on the said date; a copy of which was attached to our letter to Gov Soludo of Anambra State, whose letter further contained two subject matters requiring his Administration or Government’s intervention and expeditious actions.
Specific Demands In Our Letter To NAFDAC DG And Minister Of Health:
We had in our letter to the DG of NAFDAC and the Hon Minister of Health raised and highlighted 19-Point findings arising from NAFDAC’s poorly planned and executed operations at the Onitsha Drug Market, particularly between Feb 9 and March 7, 2025, and the goings on till date. The letter found that NAFDAC operations at Onitsha Drug Market have descended from bad to worse and made sweeping demands including total re-evaluation and reversal by NAFDAC of all harsh and stringent conditions imposed on the affected traders of the Market. A strong call was also made for discontinuation of imposition and collection of unwarranted and extortionist levies, such as “N700,000 Poor Storage Fee” per market store, “N200,000 Poor Storage Fee” per market packing store”, “N200,000 Penalty Fee” for every brand of “the imported unregistered” multinational drugs, among others; as well as total cancellation and discontinuation of forceful signing of NAFDAC-issued incriminating undertakings for every trader.
The Intersociety’s letter to DG, NAFDAC and Hon Minister of Health further demanded that those already forced to pay the sundry extortionist fees should be refunded and the public account of how much already collected and their whereabouts rendered by NAFDAC. We have also investigated and found that the account number with which traders of the Market are being forced to pay the N900,000 for every lock-up/packing store and allied unjustified fees imposed on the affected traders does not belong to CBN as purportedly claimed by NAFDAC. Bank officials visited by our field team on Wednesday, April 30, 2025, located and found the account belonging to NAFDAC corporate bank account. The letter made a strong and fresh demand for unconditional re-opening of the Onitsha Drug Market and called for thorough investigations into the entire operations by NAFDAC; and called for removal of the NAFDAC Director in charge of the South-East, Dr Martins Iluyomade and all key officials of the Agency in charge of the operations from the South-East Zone on the grounds of the fact that they have overstayed their usefulness and welcome and must be removed and thoroughly investigated and severely sanctioned if indicted.
Highlights Of Our Letter To Anambra’s Gov Soludo:
2. We at Intersociety strongly called on the Government of Anambra State to rise in strong condemnation of the April 15, 2025-gruesome murder of Teacher Mrs. Chioma Okeke, a respected mother of four and Chemistry Teacher at the Anglican Secondary School, Nnewi. Mrs. Chioma Okeke, an indigene of Nnewi was middle-aged, and married to her beloved husband with four kids. She was gruesomely shot and killed in the evening of Tuesday, April 15, 2025, by the State Government formed, funded and controlled security outfit, Operation Udo Gachi/Agunaechemba at Ibeto Junction, Nnewi, after which the lead-perpetrator was identified as Chinedu Okonkwo, an operative attached to State security outfit’s “Awka Lion House”. He was later found to have been accompanied by four others who jointly engaged in shooting spree at a heavy traffic that occurred at Nnewi’s Ibeto Junction. The victim-teacher was also said to have been recruited into the State’s Post Primary School System by the Government of Prof Chales Soludo in 2022.
Sadly, despite wide outcries and publicity following the gruesome murder, the State Government under Gov Charles Soludo has kept mute till date. The above is even when we are not aware of any concrete step taken by the Gov and his Administration including visit to the Family by top officials of the State Government and tendering of unreserved public apologies, offering the Family adequate compensation, offsetting the deceased’s funeral expenses and offering scholarship to her four kids to university level. Nothing has also been heard concerning public condemnation by the State Government of the dastard act of the culprits and distancing the State Government from such dastardly act; and total overhauling of the security outfit to prevent recurrence and foster sanity.
The failure of the Government of Anambra State under Gov Soludo in the all the above was seen by Intersociety as nothing short of giving an immunity cover to the security outfit, its leadership and operatives and designating them as an outlaw and untouchable. The Intersociety further observed in the letter that the most worrying and shocking of all is that the security outfit is observing its Establishment Law (Anambra Homeland Security Law 2025) in gross breach under the watch of Prof Charles Soludo as Anambra Gov; to the extent that most of the State security outfit’s operational modus are strange and strangers to the provisions of Nigeria’s 1999 Constitution particularly its Chapter Four’s Sections 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41 and 42; against the backdrop of several reports of the security outfit’s gross misconducts including extrajudicial killings, abductions, disappearances, torture, property violence and theft: debt recovery and involvement and criminalization of family or domestic or civil matters. Others are roadblock brutality and extortion, false labeling, cooking up of evidence, conclusions arising from hearsay, trump-up charges, trial-by-ordeal, indiscriminate arrests, unlawful detention and detention without trial, etc.
Specific Demands:
The Government of Anambra State was therefore called upon to take full responsibility by sanitizing the State security outfit and returning it to the path of sanity, due process, and rule of law and was specifically called upon to visit the Family of Teacher, Mrs. Chioma Okeke, to offer sincere condolences, tender public apologies and ensure that her funeral expenses are taken care of; and scholarship to university level awarded to her four kids; and all those involved in her gruesome murder made to face the full wrath of the law to deter others and prevent future reoccurrences.
Highlights Of The Second Subject Matter In Our Letter To Gov Soludo:
3. We at Intersociety had in our letter to Gov Soludo demanded for public disclosure of the whereabouts and full custodial details of the remaining not less than 37 practitioners of Traditional Religion and Medicine arrested across the State and held untried since Jan 28, 2025: a period of over 90 days. Gov Soludo was reminded that the Government of Anambra State had on Jan 27, 2025, announced a sweeping clamp down across the State on members of the two social entities, accusing them of “complicity or involvement in violent crimes of kidnapping, armed robbery, cultism, ritualism”, etc. The State Government also announced reorganization of the Anambra Vigilante Service (AVG) which it renamed, “Agunaechemba/Udo Ga Achi”, with a newly re-enacted law: “Anambra State Homeland Security Law 2025”. Following the reorganization of the State security outfit and re-enactment of its back-up law, the State Government deployed the outfit and sent its operatives after the accused Traditional Worshippers and Medicine Practitioners, leading to arrest of dozens of them in their large numbers at different locations across the State and in different dates between late January and February 2025; from where they have been held at different unlawful detention facilities unlawfully manned by the State security outfit, including the “Awka Lion House”, the operational headquarters of the security outfit.
As if the above was not enough, many, if not most of the sanctuaries/items belonging to them were seized or sealed or razed or confiscated or carted away during or after their arrest and detention. The State Government undeniably issued a post State Executive Council statement on Feb 18, 2025, through the State Commissioner for Information, Dr. Law Mefor, confirming that “not less than 30 Native Doctors and Ndi Ezenwanyi are in the custody of the State Government as at last count”. Despite the fact that the State Government declined to give more details including their names, arrest and detention locations and detention facilities and when they were arrested; further findings by the Intersociety showed that their number later increased to not less than 40; out of which only three (Chigozie Nwangwu or “Akwa Okuko Tiwara Aki N’ Oba, “Onyeze Jesus” and Ekene Igboekweze or “Eke-Hit N’ Okija)” were arraigned on April 4, 2025 before an Anambra State High Court, after having been held unlawfully in an unlawful detention facility manned by the State security outfit for months.
The belated court arraignment of the trio followed public outcry and release of our 35-Page Special Report on Attacks and Violence against Freedom of Religion or Worship or Belief in South-East Nigeria, dated April 3, 2025. Apart from the fact that nothing is heard till date concerning the remaining others, numbering not less than 37, provisions of the Anambra Homeland Security Law 2025 are also found to have been observed in gross breach by the security outfit and the Government of Anambra State.
By Clause Four (1) of the re-enacted Anambra State Homeland Security Law 2025, under “Powers of Agunaechemba”, “the Agunaechemba shall have powers to arrest and hand over to the Police any person who commits crime”. Similarly, by Section 35 (4) of Nigeria’s 1999 Constitution under “Citizen’s Right to Personal Liberty”, “no citizen shall be arrested and detained for more than 60 days without administrative bail or trial in a case or offense involving capital punishment on conviction and if such detention extends to 90 days without trial or administrative bail granted to such detained citizen, he or she should be released unconditionally or discharged and acquitted.
Consequently, the security outfit formed, funded and controlled by the Government of Anambra State under Prof Chales Soludo as Governor was clearly found to have grossly violated or breached its own law (Anambra State Homeland Security Law 2025) by arresting citizens and holding them for several months in its unlawful detention facilities; especially when the operatives of the security outfit lack power to “detain, investigate, interrogate and extract prosecutorial evidence and prosecute” its arrestees before any court of competent jurisdiction or superior court of records in Nigeria or any part thereof including Anambra State.
Specific Demands:
The Intersociety in the letter rose in strong condemnation of the extra jus, extralegal and extrajudicial immunity status granted to the State security outfit by Government of Anambra State under Prof Charles Soludo as Governor and strongly called on the State Government to publicly disclose the whereabouts of the remaining arrested and detained Traditional Worshippers and Medicine Practitioners numbering not less than 37 who were arrested and taken into unlawful custody of the State security outfit between late January and February 2025. We also demanded that such public disclosure should include their names and State, Local Government and Community of origin, gender, age brackets, occupation and time and location of their arrest and detention; number of them that have died in the Agunaechemba’s custody, if any, and whereabouts of their dead bodies, if true; number of them released, if any and when they were released, if true; and those still held, if any and location and duration of their detention, if true and why they are still being held for over 90 days or three months uninvestigated and untried.
Signed
For: International Society for Civil Liberties and Rule of Law
· Chinwe Umeche Esquire
Head, Democracy and Good Governance Program
International Society for Civil Liberties and Rule of Law
· Obianuju Joy Igboeli Esquire
Head, Civil Liberties and Rule of Law
International Society for Civil Liberties and Rule of Law
· Emeka Umeagbalasi
Criminologist and Graduate of Security Studies
Board Chair, International Society for Civil Liberties and Rule of Law
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