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Jeff Amechi Agbodo, Onitsha
Traders in Drug Market, Onitsha, otherwise known as Ogbogwu Market Bridgehead, Onitsha, Anambra State, have appealed to Governor Willie Obiano and the Commissioner for Trade, Commerce and Wealth Creation, Chief Uchenna Okafor, to immediately facilitate elections in the market.
The traders, who indicated that peace might continue to elude the market until duly elected leaders were enthroned in the market, pointed out that the caretaker committee arrangement would no longer work there.
In fact, they asked that the caretaker committee should be directed to empanel an electoral committee that would conduct election in the market, for peace to reign.
They made their position known during a meeting the Commissioner for Trade and Commerce held with the president of Bridgehead Market, Chief Sunday Obinze, the caretaker committee members, led by Mr. Anthony Ezioba, line chairmen, secretaries and stakeholders in the market.
Daily Sun gathered that the commissioner initiated the parley based on complaints and petitions flooding his office almost on a daily basis.
Some of the traders who spoke at the meeting, including Ikechukwu Umennabuike, Ignatius Akuma, Emmanuel Obinna and Uche Eze, enumerated other challenges they faced in the market, such as flooding in the rainy season, illegal levies on the roads, police harassment at the Asaba end of the bridge, lack of electricity supply, lack of fire fighting truck and borehole, traffic congestion at Niger Street and Bridgehead, among others.
“We want election in the market to elect our leaders, the problem we are having in the market now is because of there’s no elected leadership. If we have elected leaders, then they will be in charge, the market will be at peace, there will be no faction in the market, there will be no task force in the market, there will be no touts collecting illegal levies, scaring our customers along the roads.
“Because there was no election, government constituted a task force on counterfeit drugs that has been terrorising the traders, and we say no to intimidation. There are many things going wrong in the market that were supposed to have been solved, if there was elected leadership in the market,” they said.
President of Bridgehead Market, Chief Obinze, who appealed for peace in the market, said peace was paramount in whatever the traders would do, especially during the anticipated election proper.
Also, Ezioba said that it was in his bid to enthrone peace that they appointed a nine-man committee headed by Dr. Boniface Obi to reconcile the warring factions in the market.
He said that the committee had presented its findings and recommendations, which were accepted by the entire traders some months ago.
He also said that another nine-man constitution-drafting committee, headed by Mr. John Nwosu, had drafted a constitution for the market, which was presented to the traders, and already adopted as a working document.
Ezioba further said that the traders had chosen a new name for the market: East Niger Medical and Allied Products Ltd. The new name, according to him, has been presented alongside the constitution to the state government for approval and registration, adding that there would be revalidation of membership in the market.
Responding, the commissioner promised to conduct a free, fair and credible election as soon as possible, stressing that all complaints would be addressed.
“The traders have told me what they want, which is election, and I will do exactly what they want. So, I will go back to digest what they told me today and come up with resolution and solutions to their problems.
“I want to advise the traders to be peaceful and shun any violent attitude and fractionalisation. The traders are here to do their businesses and not to fight or cause crisis, they should come together to move the market forward. I don’t have any interest on who becomes your leader. My interest is to ensure that there is peace in the market,” Okafor said.
Regardless, an Onitsha-based rights group, the International Society for Civil Liberties and Rule of Law (Intersociety), has written to Governor Obiano, the Anambra State Commissioner of Police and the director of DSS, insisting that traders of the Onitsha Drug or ‘Ogbogwu’ Market must be allowed to choose their leaders through popular and credible election.
Intersociety also called for end of endless imposition of Government appointed caretaker committees for the market and renewal of their ad hoc tenures.
In a public interest letter dated today, 10th February, 2020 and referenced: INTERSOC: 003/02/20/ANSG/AWK by Emeka Umeagbalasi, Board Chair and others, to the Government of Anambra State, Intersociety insisted that “popular and credible elections into markets across the State are a core foundation for peace and stability and must be promoted and ensured by Government at all times.”
