Court restrains relocation of Igbo medicine dealers to Kano Economic City

By Muhammad Saleem

The Incorporated Trustees of Association of Igbo Medicine Dealers has said that it is challenging forceful relocation of its members to Kano Economic City (KEC) also called Coordinated Wholesale Centre.

The Association disclosed this through its legal counsel, Barrister Abdulazeez Adam Muhammad on Wednesday, shortly after swearing in ceremony of NAPPMED Caretaker Committee in Kano.

According to Barr. Abdulazeez Adam Muhammad, Incorporated Trustees of Association of Igbo Medicine Dealers approached the Federal High Court in Kano where it obtained an interim injunction restraining the respondents from harassing and forcing the marketers to relocate to KEC against their wish at an exorbitant price.

“They threatened to use the power of law enforcement agents against the association to force them to relocate against their wish from their standalone business premises to what they called coordinated wholesale Centre under the guise of enforcement of law.”

SOLACEBASE reports that the Incorporated Trustees of Association of Igbo Medicine Dealers had argued that the new Kano Economic City has been sold to other individuals and it was not exclusively for the NAPPMED members as is being insinuated.

“They don’t want to be relocated there because first, the place has been already sold to some people that are not even part of the business community. Second, they want to force them to occupy the place at exorbitant rate against their wish and the same law that recognizes coordinated wholesale Centre, CWC also recognizes their current places they cannot be forced to relocate and that is why we approached the court which gave the injunction restraining the people that intended to force them to move to that particular place again their wish.”

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He noted that the respondents in the suit include Jaiz bank, Brain and Harmers, and the Pharmacy Council of Nigeria.

“According to some of them, it was offered to them at the rate of 1.2mper annum and it was initially sold at 13, 14, and 15m naira which is now at a secondary market far beyond that amount. It is now about 30 million at the secondary market per shop.

Incorporated Trustees of the Association of Igbo Medicine Dealers however exonerated Kano State Government from the forceful resettlement.

“We’re challenging the relocation by force. You must prepare a particular place for them, and this place has been sold to people who are not part of the association or the market”, the lawyer said.

According to the Lawyer, the Federal High Court in Kano gave the injunction restraining forcing or harassing them and slated 6th March for a hearing of the case.

“Let them tell the court why they want to force them, in the 2022 Act, there is no place that provides for forcing dealers to relocate from one place to another.

“However, the recommendations of the Federal Ministry of Health and Presidential Committee on Sales of Medicine was that there should be no sales of medicine on the street and coordinated wholesale Centre should be for ease of regulation. And standalone medicine dealers shall be recognized as the same flow chart with the coordinate wholesale Centre.”