NAFDAC DG Denies Being Attacked

Dr Paul Ohrii

By: Patrick Ugeh

The National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) yesterday described as false and misleading a newspaper report on the alleged attack on the Director General of the agency, Dr Paul Ohrii, and his officers by some irate youths in Benue State.

A statement by Abubakar Jimoh, said the banner headline, “NAFDAC DG Attacked in Benue,” on the front page of a national newspaper claiming that Ohrii and operatives of the agency were attacked by youths in Makurdi protesting against the choice of their neighbourhood for the destruction of counterfeit and substandard drugs was erroneous and mischievous.

NAFDAC vehemently denied the story, saying it was a tissue of lies and a figment of the imagination of the reporter.

"The false report could have been a Freudian slip by a reporter who may have been privy to a plan by some faceless persons to attack Ohrii who is being pressurised to run for the gubernatorial seat in 2015," the statement claimed.

"NAFDAC is deeply shocked that its harmless effort to rid the country of counterfeit drugs through routine seizures and destruction of porous medicines has been hijacked by unscrupulous elements to settle cheap political points.

"The agency will not treat the said report with kid gloves as the appropriate law enforcement agencies are being approached to investigate the motive behind the reporter’s mischief and scare mongering."

NAFDAC officers in the six North-central states had converged for two major events in Benue State namely – the sensitisation campaign in Gboko and the destruction of N143 million worth of fake drugs.
"The agency got the approval of the state Ministry of Environment to destroy the fake drugs at a refuse dump site at the outskirts of Makurdi town.
"But the NAFDAC DG and his team were driving towards the site when they were alerted about the protesting irate youths.

"The team turned back for safety. So the newspaper’s report of an attack and smashing of NAFDAC operational vehicles never happened but fabricated by the reporter," said the statement.