By DADA AYOKHAI
The Edo State Consumer Protection Committee (CPC) has sealed Nwodo Pharmacy at Auchi in Edo North Senatorial District over what was described as a large volume of detected fake drugs.
According to a release signed by the Chairman of the Committee, Mr. Iyamu Osaro Culture, the closure was carried out jointly by the Edo North Team of the Edo State CPC and Compliance and Enforcement Officers of the Edo State Board of Internal Revenue Service.
The sealing was carried out at about 6:30am on Friday, 13th November, 2026.
It was gathered that the pharmacy, which is regarded as highly patronized in Auchi and its environs, was initially sealed and directed to pay a fine and later reopened, but the Committee later directed its sealing again based on the volume of alleged fake drugs detected.
The Committee said the exercise is part of ongoing sanitation to continue to safeguard the health of the people and protect the rights of consumers, in line with the SHINE Agenda of the state administration.
But the Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria (PSN) has protested the action, accusing the CPC of unlawful entry into pharmaceutical premises, intimidation of practitioners and arbitrary seizure of medicines.
Addressing journalists in Benin City on Thursday on behalf of the Association of Community Pharmacists of Nigeria (ACPN), an arm of the PSN, the association’s president, Chris Oisakede, said the CPC chairman, Osaro Iyamu, was not known to the association as a registered pharmacist or a suitably qualified pharmaceutical analyst or chemist.
Oisakede, who was flanked by other ACPN executives in the state, challenged the CPC chairman to disclose his relevant qualifications, professional registrations, statutory appointments, written authorisations and technical protocols.
He said, “For the avoidance of doubt, the Edo State CPC has no jurisdiction or authority, whether directly or indirectly, to enter, inspect, supervise or regulate the practice of pharmacy in Nigeria in any manner whatsoever.”
