– Demand Refund Of Money Paid For Non Existent Low Cost Houses at Irette
Some traders in Imo State, have cried out over how the President of Imo State Market Traders Association ISAMATA, Emmanuel Ezeanochie, has become an errand boy to Governor Uzodinma’s sister, Adaji, who now runs the affairs of markets in the state the way she likes.
The source, who, out of fear of being harassed and molested told this reporter, on condition of anonymity that, ‘’before the emergence of Ezeanochie as President, ISAMATA, as a group, focused on championing and ensuring the welfare of traders in Imo State”.
He regretted that since Ezeanochie, who, like Governor Hope Uzodinma, also hails from Oru clan, became President, the association has become an extension of the state government and property of the Governor’s siblings, aides and appointees who now call the shots and dictate the pace of its activities. Besides, the traders are now compelled to pay all kinds of taxes and levies in multiple private accounts in different guises’’.
One of the traders who simply identified himself as Chief Micheal Ndudi, said, some of them who are vocal enough to question or condemn Ezeanochies’s recklessness and involvement of non-members of ISAMATA in its administration were tagged enemies of the State government who security agents were engaged to arrest and detain on trumped up charges.
‘’Because of that, traders in the state now, refrain from voicing out their grievances and reservations’’.
He also stated that, last year, the leadership of ISAMATA promised traders that low cost housing units will be constructed for them on a large expanse of land that had been purportedly acquired at Irette. ‘’Ezeanochie-led ISAMATA, also assured traders that the housing units will be completed and allocated to traders within one year. But till date, nothing has been heard about the low cost houses despite the huge amount that traders were compelled to pay for it’s actualization’’.
Ndudi, further noted that all efforts they made to draw the attention of the state government to some of Ezeanochie’s alleged nefarious activities with a view to relieving him of his position as the President of ISAMATA, have proved abortive because he is in the good books of the Governor and his siblings, whose interests he protects to the detriment of Imo traders.
Continuing, he said, ‘’there was a time we wanted to protest before the general elections, but we were accused of being anti-Uzodinma. We were also mandated to put the protest on hold, support and deliver all APC candidates.
The leadership of ISAMATA, also mandated all Market Masters to strictly adhere to the directive or risk losing their jobs. The situation become so tense that candidates of other political parties were barred from campaigning or canvassing for votes at the International Market, Orlu and other major markets in the state’’.
‘’As it now Imo traders are aggrieved and their bottled up emotions are likely to explode if urgent steps are not taken to assuage their grievances and curtail Ezeanochie’s recklessness’’.
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