Igbo drug merchants targeting young northern Nigerian youths, alleges Kano elders

Self styled elders in Kano, historical city state in Nigeria, claim that drug merchants of the Igbo tribe deliberately target young northerners with addiction to controlled dugs.

According to the elders gathered under the auspices, Kano Unity Forum, KUF, who spoke to journalists on Saturday, this actions by the merchants are deliberate.

“The sad development has become the greatest threat to Kano’s future and by extension Northern Nigeria.

“This orchestrated drugs war is a carefully planned war that is unleashed on our youths and our future generations,” said Alhaji Gidado Mukhtar, convener of KUF, made up of seven pressure groups.

The forum made this claim while backing the state government’s plan to relocate patents medicine from open market to a control centre outskirt of Kano metropolis.

“The perpetrators, represented by the Incorporated Trustees of Association of Igbo Medicine Dealers, Kano, even went to the extent of instituting a legal action against the directives, which the court recently ruled against them,” said Muktar.

Ethnic  stereotype and profile increased in the country in the last one year with minimal effort by government to stem them.

Igbos in Nigeria control largely the trading subsector of the national economy which sometimes make them unintended victims of this form of ethnic schisms.

KUF, however, says that there is need to address this issue as it poses a significant threat to the future of Kano and Northern Nigeria.

They also called on law enforcement agencies to ensure the swift relocation of the pharmaceutical traders.

“many of these drug dealers operate openly in the Muhammad Abubakar Rimi Market, Sabongari, which is a clear violation of the relevant Federal and State Laws.

“In recent years, various calculated attempts have been made to destroy Kano through the importation of dangerous and illicit drugs,” the KUF convener said.

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