*No charm buried in market- Chairman
Traders at Stationary Market popularly known as Ogboakwukwo Market, Woliwo, in Onitsha North Local Government Area of Anambra State have accused their Chairman, Mr Izuchukwu Ifegbo of conducting fetish prayer and burying charms inside their Market.
Traders in their numbers who besieged office Secretariat of Anambra State Market Amalgamated Traders Association (ASMATA), Modebe Avenue Onitsha carrying placards with inscription such as:
“Chairman must go, We are tired of these heartless and greedy men. Izuchukwu and Willie must go, No more fraudsters as our leaders, and No illicit prayer”.
Presenting their grievances to the President -General of Anambra State Market Amalgamated Traders Association ( ASMATA), Chief Humphrey Anuna, the spokesperson of the traders, Mr Tobias Nnamani said they have been having one problem or the other since they were being led by caretaker committees.
Nnamani who is a zonal Chairman in the market noted that he had gone to Awka severally to report what he called the illegalities of the caretaker leadership in their market but nothing was done since then, saying that they needed election.
” What prompted us to come here is that when traders were still at home on Sunday there was distress call. Many people called me, and I also called others and alerted them what was happening in our market.
“They said there was a prayer but our Chairman used security to chase everybody away. We were surprised to hear such a thing.
“When we came to market and began to ask our Chairman the reason he conducted prayer without telling the entire market, what he was saying was what we did not understand.
“He said that the security people called for prayer but we ask security, he said it was emergency prayer. When we asked the leader of our prayer ministry, he said he has no idea of the prayer. We also asked the Vice Chairman if he was aware of the prayer, he said no.
“So, we all became confused because even the zonal heads were not aware of any prayer. The security himself said again that it was because of burglary case that made them to call for prayer, “he said.
Nnamani further demanded that based on other impunities, and maltreatment he alleged traders have been receiving from the Chairman and his executive, that the Chairman should show the traders where he buried the alleged charms inside the market.
He wondered why the Chairman held prayer without the consent of the entire traders, adding that he should have consulted other people if he actually conducted genuine prayer.
Corroborating Nnamani, one of the stakeholders in the market, Mr Hyginus Aleto equally alleged that their Chairman and executive had been persecuting and maltreating traders, alleging that the Chairman came on Sunday and buried charms inside their market.
He hinted that he had been into market leadership for thirty years but he never witnessed a security conducting prayer inside market, just as he further alleged that the Chairman extort money from traders.
He alleged that revenues were collected without genuine receipts, and that traders were being harassed with security agencies.
“The annoying part of it is that if any trader talks, the Chairman will attack such a person with security and lock the person’s shop. He has no shop. What he is after is how to extort money from people by all means. Please, remove him to allow peace to reign in our market, “he said.
The PG of ASMATA, Chief Anuna commended the traders for their wisdom to come to express their grievances instead of resorting to violence which he said would have affected all of them negatively.
He also lauded them for recognizing that there were people who represented Government, saying that due to their inability to follow due process earlier, their problems in the market lingered which he said they had corrected by bringing the matter to him.
” We opened market because of traders. They are the owners of the market not the executive. So, I have heard what you said. We cannot take laws into our hands I am happy because you are here for the betterment of the traders not me or my executive.
” What we are not investigating is the issue of charms because there is nothing like charms in law. What we are concerned about is that the Chairman wanted to conduct prayer and chased people away.
“One person cannot conduct prayer except in his shop and each market has a period of prayer in their market.
” The assignment I will give you is to tell your stakeholders to come and see me. The earlier they come to see me, the earlier your problem is solved. Let everybody go and open shops, “Anuna told them.
Ifegbo in his reaction denied the allegations, saying that he was not the person who called the pastor for the prayer.
He also said that those who called pastor to pray inside the market was the security of the market, saying that he was called to come and witness the prayer because he is the Chairman of the parket as well as the Chief Security officer of the market.
The Chairman also said that due to burglary cases in the market which they are still investigating, security of the market called for prayer by themselves to pray over the challenges.
“The pastor who came for the prayer was the one who is known to the traders and there is no other thing more than that. I did not chase anybody away that day. I did not bury anything inside the market. I did not bury any charm.
“That’s false allegation. I pray God to bless anybody who will prove that I buried charms but if it is not true, let the person die, and the same thing with me. If I have buried charms inside the Market, let me die, “he swore.
