Chairman of the Kano State Task force on fake, counterfeit and adulterated drugs, Dr. Ali Adamu, has called on the state police command to provide adequate security to its members and their families.
While addressing newsmen in Kano on Saturday, Adamu said that some unknown persons had been sending threat messages to the committee members and their families following the closure of the open drug market at the Sabon Gari Market on December 31, 2012.
“We wish to draw the attention of the state police command to threats to our lives and property by some unknown persons. “Some unknown persons are threatening to burn the pharmaceutical premises and kill pharmacists/shop owners situated at No. 7A within Kano in the event the state government evicts drug dealers from the market,” he said.
Mr. Adamu said that some of the committee members, including the Chairman of the state branch of Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria, Ahmed Gana, had also received threat text messages.
However, he said that all the telephone numbers used in sending these text messages had been given to relevant security agencies for necessary action.
“We found it necessary to tell members of the public what is happening in order for people to be our witnesses in case of any eventuality,” he said.
He, therefore, urged the state police command to investigate the issue with a view to bringing the culprits to book.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the Kano State Government ignored a subsisting Federal High Court order barring it from evicting the drug dealers at the market. The state government based its argument on the tenancy agreement of the shops and the health hazard posed by the sale of drugs in open market.