NAFDAC officials during a raid
…FG May Close Market Pending When Damaged Vehicles Are Replaced
Fresh trouble has emerged on the aftermath of the Thursday last week’s official raids at the Balogun Business Association (BBA) arm of the massive Lagos International Trade Fair complex by officials of the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC), for counterfeit products as the agency has placed a value of N25bn as worth of vehicles destroyed by the traders and their hired mercenaries.
The Federal Agency said during the raid, about 10 operational vehicles valued at over N25 billion, belonging to NAFDAC and other security agencies were vandalised during the chaos and serially linked the latest attack to the previous enforcement operations in Aba and Onitsha markets. NAFDAC also noted that it had received intelligence reports regarding the attack two months ago.
Business Hilights recalls that during a press briefing to journalists in Lagos, the Director-General, Prof Mojisola Adeyeye, claimed that aside the damaged vehicles, traders carried out an assassination attempt targeted at the agency’s Director of Investigation and Enforcement, Dr. Martins Iluyomade, who also serves as Chairman of the Federal Task Force.
According to Adeyeye’s statement, the exercise carried out on October 30, 2025, which followed credible intelligence, reportedly began peacefully until a group of armed thugs stormed the scene, demanding the identity of the task force chairman and attacking officials.
Whereas the agency did not say when they will write BBA for the replacement of the damaged vehicles and cost of hospital treatments of wounded staff, there are strong indications that NAFDAC may ask for the vehicles replacement from the Trade Fair Management very soon or through the supervising Minister, Dr. Jumoke Oduwole, MFR.
NAFDAC Boss, who was represented by Iluyomade at the briefing, said that chaos began after officials of the agency had already discovered and confiscated several cartons of fake, banned and unwholesome products, in violation of the Counterfeit and Fake Drugs and Unwholesome Processed Foods (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act, Cap. C.34 LFN 2004.
The NAFDAC official further revealed that the agency managed to evacuate four trucks of the seized products valued at N500 million from the market, but had to abandon others due to the intensity of the attack.
The DG accused some market owners of hiring mercenaries armed with dangerous weapons to disrupt the operation. She said all cluster leaders of the market shut the four gates, trapping the officials as the attackers launched their assault.
It would be recalled that Business Hilights had on Monday published a report (https://businesshilights.com.ng/2025/11/03/nafdac-raid-bba-president-odogwu-frowns-at-fighting-govt-agencies-on-duty/), giving details of the address by the President of BBA, Chief Oscar Odogwu, on Friday morning, where he urged the members to desist from anything that would attract the regulatory body into the complex like dealing in fake and expired products.
Odogwu told the traders that they could not stop the regulatory body from coming into the complex for their official work and further warned that anyone or group of people that wanted to cause trouble or protest against NAFDAC officials in the complex would be dealt with accordingly and handed over to the police for prosecution.
While processing this reports, efforts to get the official views of the ED/CEO of the Lagos International Trade Fair Complex Management Board (LITFCMB) proved abortive.
