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By Sunday Ani
The African Democratic Congress (ADC) governorship candidate for the 2023 general election in Enugu State, Pastor Donatus Obi-Ozoemena, has condemned the demolition of the building materials section at the popular Kenyatta Market, Uwani, in Enugu South Local Government Area of the state, describing it as very insensitive.
In a statement by Ozoemena, which was made available to the Sunday Sun, he bemoaned the enormous economic waste the demolition had caused.
He described the government’s action as ill-advised, ill-timed and rash, considering the current harsh economic realities in the state and Nigeria in general.
The candidate also queried the rationale behind the exercise at a time other governments were busy offering palliatives and other support programmes for traders and artisans to be able to keep their businesses afloat, and ultimately shore up the state’s economy.
Part of the statement read: “When I saw pictures and listened to audios as well as reasons adduced by the Enugu Capital Territory Development Authority (ECTDA) for destroying people’s hard-earned shops and livelihood at Kenyatta Market in Uwani Enugu, I screamed, ‘What manner of government is this? My heart was broken because of the poor judgment of the state government and her usual abysmal handling of critical issues, especially at this time of biting hardship and insecurity across the state and country.
“How could a government preoccupy itself with such ill-conceived idea of killing businesses and throwing more families into acute poverty, hunger and hopelessness at a time that other governments are having sleeplessness nights, trying to support businesses so as to pull as many of their citizens as possible off poverty, hunger and criminalities?
“Is it not obvious that Enugu is in dire need of a deliverer to usher in a new status quo; a leader that would create more opportunities and incentives to do business in the state rather than killing the existing ones?
“For us, the excuses given by the ECTDA to justify the government’s action are lame, unfortunate and condemnable. Such a thing cannot occur under an ADC-led government.”
The ECTDA Chairman, Dr. Josef Onoh, told journalists that the exercise was carried out because the activities of the affected traders were, “hurting the economy of the state and affecting the development and growth of the city.” He added that they were merely carrying out a court order in line with the agency’s development exercise.
“We now have an over-populated arena which has contravened the city’s development plan and we had given them successive notices to move to the new international market at Ugwuaji. The new international market had been developed and designed to accommodate them but they refused to relocate.
For two years now, I have been meeting with their leaders but they are not in unity. They should blame their leaders not the government,” he stated.
