By Editor
A Federal high court in Kano has ordered the Patent Medicine dealers to vacate the Malam Kato and Sabon Gari open market and relocate to the Coordinated Wholesale Centre in Dangwauro area of the state.
The court subsequently dismissed the fundamental rights suit moved by dealers seeking to reject relocation to the coordinated center instituted by the Pharmaceutical Council of Nigeria.
The judgment has finally put to rest more than five years of battle between the drug dealers who had resisted all attempts by concerned authorities to relocate the pharmaceutical business from the open market.
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The Pharmaceutical Council of Nigeria over the years failed to compel the powerful dealers to relocate from the open market considered inimical to the efficacy of pharmaceutical products.
The Sabon Gari medicine dealers had dragged the Federal and Kano state Governments, the Commissioner of Police and eight others before Justice Simon Amobeda for violation of their rights and discrimination against them thereby compelling them to leave their present open market premises.
Justice Amobeda held that the plaintiff lacks the locus standing to institute the suit as they are not the body that can grant the license to wholesalers of pharmaceutical products, adding that they only deal mainly with over-the-counter sellers.
The court also faulted the plaintiff’s lawyer of constituting an abuse of court process, having filed a motion on notice for a case already being decided by the same court on 30th June, 2023 in favour of the defendants.
On whether the rights of members of patent medicine dealers are being violated such that reduces them to do business freely, Justice Amobeda held that counsel to the plaintiffs, Abdulazeez Adam has failed to substantiate with credible evidences.
Instead, Justice Amobeda ordered that the Plaintiff and its members obey their parent body as there is no ploy to hamper their rights to trade.
In the application filed on 16th June, 2023, the plaintiffs asked the court to determine whether or not the constitutional rights to freedom of association, movement and liberty to trade anywhere in the country without discrimination against ethnicity and religion are being violated by the force notice to relocation their trade to Dangoro center.
Secondly, the plaintiffs also argued for determination, whether or not the constitution which granted every citizen the right and freedom to do lawful business anywhere in the country is not supreme to the extent law of the Pharmaceutical Council of Nigeria.
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Dissecting the plaintiff’s relief, Justice Amobeda maintained that plaintiffs had not shown in evidence where their rights to trade anywhere in Kano were trampled upon by the defendants. The court equally discounts the allegation of intimidation and arrest of the plaintiffs as deposited in the affidavit.
Justice Amobeda reminded the plaintiffs of the obligation to obey the rules and regulations guiding the operation of pharmaceutical supply, especially the health implications on the health population.
Against the assumption of the plaintiffs, the court declared there was no case of inconsistency between the provision of the constitution and the guidelines of PCB.
Justice Amobeda had earlier granted the preliminary objection of the defendants, challenging the jurisdiction of the court to sit on the matter, which has already been resolved. But the court proceeded to entertain the originating motion to pave the way for a ground of appeal.
Counsel to the plaintiffs, Abdulazeez Adam said the judgment was well noted. He promised to advise his clients on the next line of action.
Reacting to the judgment, the Director General, National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) Prof Mojisola Adeyeye applaused the landmark judgment.
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In a statement by Tamanuwa Andrew Baba, a director in the Investigation and Enforcement directorate, the DG said the victory is for the survival of public health.
“The case is about the relocation of Open Drug Marketers to Coordinated Wholesale Center in Kano as part of the efforts to continue the fight against Substandard and Falsified Medicines.
“This is a good beginning for the DG who was just re-appointed yesterday by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu. She has been working very hard to ensure that the distribution of medicines is well-regulated and controlled. The CWC in Kano will contribute to the mitigation of SFs”.
