By Amaka Iskala/Ebele Iyke-Odili
The Governor of Anambra State, Prof. Chukwuma Soludo has insisted on the opening of Anambra markets on Mondays despite the protest by some traders in Onitsha Main Market against the governor’s decision to shutdown the market for one week.
Governor Soludo, who had a meeting with the leaders of all markets in Anambra at the International Conference Centre, Awka on January 29, threatened revocation of ownership of any shop that would not open on next week Monday.
According to him, some persons who are not from Anambra State have vowed that Anambra State will not move forward but we will take back our state and move it forward.
He added that two months after his swearing in as the Governor of Anambra State in 2022, he visited Mazi Nnamdi Kanu in DSS custody and told him about the enforcement of Monday Sit-At Home in the five states of South East by his supporters and he condemned it totally, describing it as an “abomination”.
“Then few weeks later, his personal lawyer, Barr. Aloy Ejimakor addressed a press conference on his behalf and announced that Mazi Nnamdi Kanu never supported Monday Sit-At Home but rather it was Simon Ekpa and his followers that instilled fears in our people, killed and kidnapped some unlucky ones.”
He pleaded with the traders in the Onitsha Main Market whose shops have been locked up since January 27 due to their recalcitrance to his order of opening them on Mondays starting from January 26 to exercise patience till Monday, February 2.
He added that what he is doing about the opening of Anambra Markets on Mondays, is not for his own benefits but for the benefits of petty traders, artisans and others whose daily bread and income depended on their daily sales and toils in the markets.
He, therefore, promised that Anambra State must be fully recovered and moved forward.
Going on, the governor promised to install security around the major market while they go about their businesses as always starting from next Mondays.
He also mandated all the Mayors of the 21 LGAs of Anambra State to start going round the whole markets in their areas on Mondays as from 10 am and 11 am to collect attendance lists of the traders in the markets.
The governor used the occasion to announce that the entire markets in Anambra State would be modernized to look like 21st century markets, starting with Onitsha Main Market.
He gave two options which included complete reconstruction of Onitsha Main Market within two years from now or the regeneration of it within few months from now.
In their responses, the leaders of the markets expressed fears of being kidnapped or killed by the murderous criminals who claimed to be sympathizers of Mazi Nnamdi Kanu.
They demanded that the governor should provide them with adequate security on Mondays to ensure that their lives and goods are well protected.
One of the market’s leaders who pleaded anonymity cited example of a former market leader who was kidnapped and has not been seen since then simply because he was telling his fellow traders to start opening their shops on Mondays.
He also said that some of the markets’ leaders had received threats on their lives and that of their wives and children through phone calls.
The meeting ended with the hope that everything will return to normalcy in the coming days.
Amaka and Ebele are of the Ministry of Information, Anambra State
