Samuel Amo Tobbin, Group Chairman of Tobinco Pharmaceuticals Limited (TPL), has disclosed how Dr. Stephen Opuni, the former Chief Executive Officer of the Food and Drug Authority (FDA), ignored interventions by the then General Secretary of the National Democratic Congress, Johnson Asiedu Nketiah, and then President, John Dramani Mahama to seize and subsequently destroy medical products in 2013.

In a Channel One TV interview, Tobinco, as he is widely known, disclosed that Dr. Opuni deliberately targeted his warehouses and seized products that were meant for the production of drugs.

Tobinco explained that despite results showing that only a small portion of his products were fake, Dr. Opuni made it a point to confiscate and destroy all medical supplies from his warehouse.

Upon realizing that he was the target of a malicious and targeted operation, Tobinco says that he sought the intervention of Asiedu Nketiah and John Mahama, but their efforts were futile as Dr. Opuni was too powerful to be stopped.

“Substandard was just one product, just samples, I mean just a little, [but] all my other products were termed as fake. That was when he started moving with trailers to our warehouses and hospitals to take them to burn.

“I didn’t seek legal redress because the guy [Dr. Opuni] was powerful. What will you do as a businessman? You run to people who can rescue the issue. Our judiciary system, see how long the case took. I thought that let me go to some people, so I went to Asiedu Nketiah. He [Dr. Opuni] came to his office, and we sat there for four hours, and the guy didn’t mind us.

“I went to former President John Mahama’s house and pleaded with him to please kindly rescue the situation, but he couldn’t do it. In the sense that the guy was so strong. He will tell you to be quiet and not go on air. By the time you realize, there are four trailers in the Western Region loading our products to the burning site. It wasn’t easy at that time.”

Tobinco's revelation follows a recent ruling by the Accra High Court ordering the Food and Drugs Authority (FDA) to pay a total of GH¢93,905,760.79 to Tobinco Pharmaceuticals Ltd for the unlawful destruction of unexpired drugs belonging to Tobinco.

EK

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