Traders At Ogbo-Osisi Market Onitsha Rejects Caretaker Leadership, Demands Election
By Polycarp Ifeanyi
Traders in UBA Plank and Joist Association Ltd, popularly known as Ogbo-Osisi, Bridge Head Market, Onitsha, Anambra state, have rejected caretaker executive appointed for the Market by Governor Charles Soludo.
They urged ministry of commerce and industry Anambra State to conduct them election to enable traders to elect those who will lead them and oversee the Market affair.
Anambra state government, through the office of the Special Adviser to the governor on Trade and Commerce, appointed 10 – man caretaker executives to oversee the affairs of the market for a period of three months.
A letter to this effect, signed by the Special Adviser to the governor on Trade and Market, Chief Everest Uba was dated March 6, 2023.
The letter said that constitution of the caretaker committee is “highly necessary” due to the expiration of tenure of the incumbent leadership with Chief Emmanuel Obunze as Chairman.
But when the President General of Bridge Head Markets, Onitsha, Hon. Chinedu Ezekwike, arrived the Market with his team on Wednesday, March 11, to introduce the new leadership, the traders unanimously rejected the caretaker executive, and insisted that they needed a leadership that they would elect themselves.
One of the traders, Ndubisi Uwadiegwu, who spoke on behalf of traders in the Market, said that timber traders need elected, not imposed leaders.
He also said that the Chairman of the care-taker committee, as introduced to the traders, Mr. Odirachukwu Nwosu, has questionable character, and cannot make a good leader.
According to him, “We, the traders in this market reject anything care-taker. We want to elect our leaders ourselves. Again, this man, Odirachukwu Nwosu, who government gives us as Care-taker Chairman, cannot make a good leader.
“He was once our financial Secretary in the previous executive in this Market. After their tenure, several millions of naira was missing in our coffers, and being the financial secretary, he could not give account of it. So, if he should ever lead this market as Chairman, his everyday activities will generate crisis in the market.”
Uwadiegwu’s response generated wide and noisy applauds among traders, which interrupted discussions for several minutes.
Meanwhile, the President General of Bridge Head Markets, Hon.Chinedu Ezekwike, insisted that the new leadership shall assume duty, while traders who feel aggrieved should channel their grievances through appropriate channels.
He said, “I am only a messenger of the Anambra state government; I did not appoint the caretaker myself. The state government oversees and manages the activities of all the Markets in the state, and reserves the power to constitute caretaker in any of the Markets.
“So, if you have any complaints, you can either come to me or go to Awka and complain to the state government. But for me, I will advise that you give the new Care-taker executive necessary recognition and cooperation, so that they will serve the Market better.” Said Ezekwike.
