Bridge Head Market in Onitsha, Anambra State, a commercial city, has
been thrown into crisis following the emergence of two parallel groups
laying claims to the leadership of the market association.
Trouble started when a group started imposing levy and collecting money from traders in the market.
The chairman Bridge Head Market Traders Association, Chief Ambrose O. Osakwe, said there was an agreement with the state government following the appointment of a caretaker committee “to reconcile the various factions under the umbrella market association, and prepare grounds for an election before the expiration of our tenure. It was also to ensure the collection/payment and remittance of all government revenues into the designated accounts of Anambra State in the banks. But a group has been causing confusion everywhere in the market.
“This group is being sponsored by those who don’t want peace for Governor Willie Obiano. Government appointed me and my committee members when the tenure of the previous caretaker committee expired on July 1, 2014. The government through the Commissioner for Trade and Commerce, Ifeatu Onejeme, appointed us on July 18, 2014. When our tenure expired on October 17, 2014, government renewed our tenure to January 17, 2015 when the election will take place.”
Osakwe informed that trouble began when another faction who according him, hid under the Board of Trustees (BoT) of the association to operate. He said the group also fixed another date for election of the union as government has stipulated the date of the election on January 17, 2015.
According to the appointment letter, Onejeme stated that the appointment was due to the inability of the various mini-unions to conduct elections into the main umbrella body of the association. He said the committee “shall be in office for further three months as election comes up on January 17, 2015.
“The state government, acting through this ministry, reserves the sole right to terminate the tenure of office if this committee is found wanting in the discharge of its responsibilities and to extend its tenure should exigencies so demand.”
When contacted, president of Anambra State Market and Traders Association (ASMATA), Chief Okwudili Ezenwankwo, accused the group of working against the union. He recalled that he had severally warned him (Ozigbo) to steer clear from the activities of the association, adding that any interested groups or persons should wait till January 17, 2015:
“Ambrose Osakwe is the authentic caretaker committee chairman for now, pending when the union will conduct election on January 17, 2015. It is only after the election that the new chairman will emerge. The market is not owned by any individual or groups, but a government institution.”
He warned that traders making payment to such mischievous group are doing that at their own risk as government will not be answerable to such loss.
The chairman Bridge Head Market Traders Association, Chief Ambrose O. Osakwe, said there was an agreement with the state government following the appointment of a caretaker committee “to reconcile the various factions under the umbrella market association, and prepare grounds for an election before the expiration of our tenure. It was also to ensure the collection/payment and remittance of all government revenues into the designated accounts of Anambra State in the banks. But a group has been causing confusion everywhere in the market.
“This group is being sponsored by those who don’t want peace for Governor Willie Obiano. Government appointed me and my committee members when the tenure of the previous caretaker committee expired on July 1, 2014. The government through the Commissioner for Trade and Commerce, Ifeatu Onejeme, appointed us on July 18, 2014. When our tenure expired on October 17, 2014, government renewed our tenure to January 17, 2015 when the election will take place.”
Osakwe informed that trouble began when another faction who according him, hid under the Board of Trustees (BoT) of the association to operate. He said the group also fixed another date for election of the union as government has stipulated the date of the election on January 17, 2015.
According to the appointment letter, Onejeme stated that the appointment was due to the inability of the various mini-unions to conduct elections into the main umbrella body of the association. He said the committee “shall be in office for further three months as election comes up on January 17, 2015.
“The state government, acting through this ministry, reserves the sole right to terminate the tenure of office if this committee is found wanting in the discharge of its responsibilities and to extend its tenure should exigencies so demand.”
When contacted, president of Anambra State Market and Traders Association (ASMATA), Chief Okwudili Ezenwankwo, accused the group of working against the union. He recalled that he had severally warned him (Ozigbo) to steer clear from the activities of the association, adding that any interested groups or persons should wait till January 17, 2015:
“Ambrose Osakwe is the authentic caretaker committee chairman for now, pending when the union will conduct election on January 17, 2015. It is only after the election that the new chairman will emerge. The market is not owned by any individual or groups, but a government institution.”
He warned that traders making payment to such mischievous group are doing that at their own risk as government will not be answerable to such loss.
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