Anambra Traders’ Forum has called on the State Governor-elect, Prof. Chukwuma Soludo, to dissolve all the market executives which elections were conducted six months before his assumption of office on March 17, 2022.
The group in a briefing in Onitsha yesterday said the dissolution of the market executives should start from the kangaroo umbrella market body known as Anambra State Market Amalgamated Traders Association (ASMATA), which leadership does not reflect the wishes and interest of the traders in the State.
The President of ATF, Dede Uzor A Uzor, said during the briefing that the so called ASMATA executives who were hand picked as Caretaker Committee members by Governor Willie Obiano transformed themselves into elected executives in a most crude manner during an election in which they were the electoral umpire as well as the contestants were elder brother to his wife.
He said they returned themselves as elected members in a sham election in which the traders were not given opportunity to vote or be voted for.
He lamented that no other market leader or trader was given opportunity to contest against Chief Ekwegbalu, neither was there opportunity for the traders to exercise their franchise to elect a leader of their choice.
The ASMATA executive, the traders’ group said, has been going about allegedly collecting money from some traders and installing them as exevutives of various markets in the state without due process and proper election.
ATF said all the elections conducted in virtually all the markets in the last six months were fraudulent, sham and a mockery of electoral process inline with the traders extant laws
They queried ” how can you organise election and you don’t allow people who are eligible and interested to contest?
You disenfranchise a greater number of traders from choosing their leader because you want to install and return yourself and some people at all cost.
The entire election were fraught with irregularities and illegalities.
This cannot even happen in military regime”.
The group said to restore sanity in the markets in the State Prof. Soludo should dissolve ASMATA executives and other markets executives that conducted elections about six months ago immediately after being sworn in on March 17, 2022.
ATF urged Governor-elect to set up a special investigative Committee to unravel those who had stolen government STALLAGE FEES running into millions of naira especially in Bridgehead market in the last 5 years because some of them are reacher than Anambra State and fastly erecting and building 5 storey building at Iyiowa in Ogbaru Local Government Area of the State.
Dede Uzor also said the Governor-elect should without further delay reappoint credible Association like AMALGAMATED MARKET TRADERS ASSOCIATION OF ANAMBRA STATE (AMATAS) who has a registered BoT, built a multi purpose 2 storey house (TRADERS HOUSE) at Modebe Avenue Onitsha should organise election for other markets in the State as a statutory Market Association.
He said this has become imperative to reduce tension, corruption,extortion and threat to violence being unleashed and perpetrated by these unpopular markets leaders in the State against traders vide their illegal extortion of tolls in different markets in the State.
He warned that for Prof. Soludo to realise huge internally generated revenue which were already in private hands,he expects to deploy in building Anambra State, credible market executives must be in place in all the markets in the State.
“It is only credible market executives that can help achieve that.
Such market leaders is AMATAS”
ATF leader said.
