Metuh seeks tougher fake-drug penalties after Aba businessman's five-year sentence

A former national publicity secretary of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Olisa Metuh, has called for tougher punishment for people who make or sell fake drugs and adulterated products, saying a five-year jail term or a N5 million fine is not enough.

Metuh, now a chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and director of mobilisation and organisation of the Renewed Hope Ambassadors, made the call in a statement issued in Abuja on Friday.

He was reacting to the conviction on Wednesday of an Aba-based businessman, Innocent Okoye, by the Federal High Court in Umuahia, Abia State. The court found Okoye guilty of manufacturing and distributing counterfeit Goya Extra Virgin Olive Oil and sentenced him to five years in prison, with the option of a N5 million fine.

Metuh described that sentence as a light tap on the wrist. In his view, penalties like that allow dishonest manufacturers to treat counterfeiting as just another cost of doing business.

Why it matters to ordinary Nigerians

Fake and adulterated goods are a daily risk for shoppers in Nigeria. Metuh noted that fake drugs, food, drinks, cosmetics and household items can cause serious illness, permanent damage to organs and deaths that could have been prevented.

He said victims often do not know what has hit them until many people have already been harmed, because the crime happens quietly on shop shelves rather than face to face.

"The law must respond with consequences that fit the crime," he said, arguing that poisoning products is no less dangerous than a violent attack simply because the seller never meets the buyer.

Metuh wants the National Assembly to rewrite the laws on fake drugs, adulterated medicines and falsified consumer goods. He said punishments should match the harm done, what the offender intended, how much money they made and how reckless they were.

He called for much longer prison terms, including sentences in line with those for serious violent crimes where fake products kill or badly injure people, and fines that reflect the profits made and the damage caused.

He also asked for mandatory seizure of assets, permanent closure of the factories involved, compensation for victims, quick removal of dangerous products from shops and prosecution of company executives, manufacturers, importers and distributors who knowingly help the trade.

Metuh stressed that tougher laws will only work if regulators and prosecutors act quickly and consistently.

"A five-year jail term or N5 million fine amounts to a mere slap on the wrist," he said, adding that punishment must never become the price of trading in human lives.

What happens next

The Senate passed the Counterfeit Medical Products, Fake Drugs and Unwholesome Processed Foods (Prohibition and Control) Bill, 2026, for second reading in July 2026. The bill proposes a minimum 15-year jail term on conviction, asset forfeiture, compensation for victims and wider powers for the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC).

It is now up to lawmakers to take the bill through the remaining stages before it can become law.