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From Aloysius Attah, Onitsha
Shock waves spread through the 30 markets in Anambra State, when their leaders were sacked by the state government on April 29.
Governor Chukwuma Soludo had directed the immediate dissolution of the 30 caretaker committee leaders in some major markets across the state.
Commissioner of Commerce and Industry, Dr. Obinna Ngonadi, in a statement announcing the governor’s directive, said the sack was government’s intention to strengthen the markets’ leadership to elvolve progressive governance so that the unions could become effective partners in the modernisation of the markets.
Since the announcement, it has been a mixed bag of sorrow and joy for the traders. While some traders with vested interests are rejoicing that the sack of the market leaders who were majorly caretakers has provided another opportunity for them or their close allies to grab leadership positions again, others who were benefiting from the system are licking their wounds.
But the case of three market leaderships affected in the sack is uniquely different. This, Daily Sun gathered, was as a result of the fact that they were not caretaker committees appointed by the former Governor Willie Obiano administration but leaders who were democratically elected by the traders in recent elections.
Market leaders in this category are the Ose Okwuodu Market, which is the hub of foodstuffs in Anambra, and the Ogbaru Main Market, popularly known as Relief Market, which is somewhat like the Onitsha Main Market where all sorts of goods are sold in large quantities.
The third market, the Grain Seed Dealers’ Market, Obosi, is an offshoot of the Ose Okwuodu Market. Though the leadership at Grain Seed Dealers’ Market is a caretaker committee and not an elected one, the majority of the traders at the market told Daily Sun that the chairman of the caretaker committee, Prince Charles Ikegwuonwu, had so endeared himself to the traders with his good leadership qualities that they were unanimously rooting for him to continue in office.
The Ogbaru Main Market leaders were elected into office on January 25, 2022, while the Ose Market leaders’ election followed on February 3, 2022, exactly 14 days to the swearing in of Soludo into office on March 17, 2022.
Leaders of the two markets and the traders who elected them into office have been crying foul, wondering how the names of the two market leaderships also crept into the list of those sacked from office by the government.
Unable to bear the effects of their sack, traders and marketwomen from Oseokwuodu Market, last Thursday, went to Government House, Awka, in a peaceful protest against the move by the state government to impose a caretaker leadership on them.
They said the governor’s action was in clear contravention and abuse of rights of the traders to choose their leaders, which they had earlier done in a free, fair and credible election.
Armed with relevant documents to prove the credible process that led to the emergence of their leaders and also bearing placards of different inscriptions, they appealed to the governor not to dissolve their market leadership because, according to them, their election held also under the supervision of the state government, representatives of Anambra State Market and Traders Association (ASMATA) and security agencies.
President-general of the Oseokwuodu Market, Mr. Anthony Onwuetiaka, lamented the move by the All Progressives Grand Alliance-led government to nullify the election that led to the emergence of his executive barely three months into office without due consultation with them.
Onwuetiaka stated that his executive committee had contacted the commissioner of commerce to find out why their leadership, which was to last for three years, should be dissolved for no serious reason, but was told that there were petitions against his executive when indeed there was none.
He said: “I requested for copies of the said petitions and the commissioner could not provide any. I asked him, why? He said maybe the aggrieved parties petitioned the governor directly. That is why we are here to tell our governor that we have no issue in the market about the election. We don’t also need any caretaker committee. We are with the government and ever ready to discuss and partner them.”
Vice-chairman of the market, Osita Agu, who lent his voice to the same situation they’ve found themselves in, said the entire market has been in shock since they saw on social media that Ose Market executives were affected by the sack directive.
They urged the state government to find an amicable settlement to the impasse, stressing that they remain law-abiding citizens willing to toe the path of peace and progress of the state and the new government in place.
Anambra State commissioner for homeland affairs, Mr. Chikodi Anara, who was represented by head (operations) in the ministry, Dr. Ezenduka Samuel, assured the protesters that their requests would be duly communicated to the governor for necessary action. He commended the traders for conducting themselves in a peaceful and orderly manner.
When the reporter visited the Ogbaru market, the same feeling enveloped the traders there over the sack of the chairman of the market, Chief Ndubuisi Ochiogu, and his executive members by the government directive.
However, traders in the market have not lost hope as the market stakeholders comprising line chairmen and secretaries, sectional heads of the market and others converged in an extraordinary meeting at the market hall to denounce the inclusion of the market leadership among those that were sacked.
While pouring their displeasure over the inclusion of the market chairman, among the victims of the state government’s sack order, Chairman, Ogbaru Main Market Sectional Heads, Mr. Emman-uel Nwadibia, said that the entire market was saddened by the current position of the state government.
He explained that the election that enthroned the market boss which was witnessed by security agents and of-ficials of the state government was free and fair and wondered why government should sack their leadership under controversial circumstances.
Secretary of patrons in the market, Emeka Okafor, Mrs.Uche Udezue, fi-nancial secretary, sectional heads, ex-pressed worries over the situation and called on the state government to have a rethink and re-instate their sacked chairman whom they noted had worked tirelessly to end burglary in Ogbaru Main Market.
Chief Eugene Nwanekezie, deputy BOT chairman, Ogbaru Main Mar-ket, who represented Chief Sam Men-du, the BOT chairman, urged the state government to rescind its decision and reinstate Ochiogu.
The traders said that the removal of Ochiogu must have been carried out in error as the authorities failed to hear from the market authorities, but relied heavily on the purported allega-tions contained in series of petitions from the opposition that contested and lost woefully in the January 25, Ogbaru Main Market Election.
At the Grain Seed Dealers Market, Obosi, an extraordinary stakeholders meeting was also convened over the sack of the caretaker committee by the government.
Chairman of the market Board of Trustees, Chef Michael Okpala, another stakeholder, Bro. Damian Nwana and a trader in the market, Mrs Josephine Chukwu, an octogenarian not only extolled the leadership qualities of Chairman of the caretaker committee, Charles Ikegwuonwu, but also passed a vote of confidence on him to continue in office.
The traders also begged Soludo to retain Ikegwuonwu as their leader in the market.
When the reporter contacted the Commissioner for Commerce and Industry, Dr Obinna Ngonadi, he said what government actually did was to dissolve caretaker committees and elected leaders in markets where it deemed there was flawed elections.
He said lots of investigations were carried out and it was discovered that elections into the affected markets were actually flawed. He said that a new caretaker committee will take charge soon though there are indications that some markets with genuine complains may be reviewed.
