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By Madu Obi
Former chairman of Iron Dealers Union, Atani Road in Ogbaru local government area of Anambra State, a suburb of Onitsha, Chief Nnaemeka Onuzululike, has accused the opposition traders of trying to frustrate the efforts of the Union to build a first class international market.
He, however, vowed that no antics of the opposition would succeed in distracting him and that of the progressives leaders and traders from completing the Nteje Building Materials International Market.
He said that over 450 shops have already been completed and that some traders already moved into the market.
Refuting the allegations of the opposition members, he added that construction of shops is currently going on in the market to accommodate those who paid late.
According to him, there was no iota of truth in the allegations of the opposition that he does not want to give account of the number of plots he bought for the traders.
The opposition union members led by Mr. Uzochukwu Okafor, the current Financial Secretary had, among other things, accused Onuzulike of selling some plots and shops to outsiders and used the money to comprise prominent people who ought to stop him from his excesses.
They also accused Onuzulike of colluding with some people to chase them out of their present market at Atani Road, using some security operatives and touts.
But Onuzululike said the problem was that some of the opposition union members were driven by selfish interest and envy, alleging that one of them had approached him at the commencement of the project, suggesting how they would share the traders' money which he turned down.
The former chairman also alleged that the opposition members were people who contested election with him both in his first and second tenure and lost.
Since then , he said, they vowed that he would not succeed and therefore were bent to frustrate the building efforts to ensure that he did not achieve anything, adding that since that time, they have been organizing traders against him to frustrate the project.
Onuzululike said there was nothing he has not done to appease the opposition including begging for forgiveness if he had offended them in anyway but they were bent in frustrating the completion of the market.
He said that the Anambra State government had written to the eight markets that jointly own the market, especially those of them that deal with iron rod that they should move into the new market by August but these people went out and were confusing traders that Atani Road traders were not among the markets to move.
The former chairman said there was a letter from Ministry of Commerce, specifically directing them to move to their new site at Nteje but the opposition people told the traders that it was not true.
On the issue of giving account of his stewardship, Onuzulike said they agreed in one of their meetings that he would render his account when they finish the market project, saying that they are yet to complete the market.
The overall chairman of the eight markets that are building the Nteje International Market, Chief Ignatius Ejike, said there is nothing causing the trouble but personal interest of those key opposition members.
He said for them ,what they wanted was that the market should be pulled down so that the credit would not go to Chief Onuzulike.
Ejike said: "These people just want to frustrate this project.We suffered for this market project.There was transparency in the execution of the project.All these people were there at the beginning. They just want to frustrate Onuzulike's efforts because they contested election with him and failed".
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