By Ovat Abeng
One person has been reportedly escaped death as some members of the Anambra State Market Amalgamated Traders Association (ASMATA), engaged in physical fight over three percent sharing formula from the money the association is generating from Onitsha market, Anambra State.
It was gathered that the association, for some time now, has engulfed in leadership tussle over what is reported to as “poor welfare package for executive members” with some of them calling on the State Governor, Chukwuma Charles Soludo to urgently intervene before the matter assumed a dangerous dimension.
A victim of the incident and the current chairman of the association, Idemili Zone, Chief Emmanuel Obiagwu, narrated his ordeal in a press statement he and other affected members signed and made available to Journalists at a press conference held at the Officer mess, Military barracks Onitsha, on Wednesday.
He alleged that he was aggressively beaten black and blue for demanding transparency and accountability by thugs says to be working for the ASMATA President General, Chief Humphrey Anuna.
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He said the unfortunate incident happened on the 3rd October, 2024 at about 12:15pm at the ASMATA’s premises, No. 56 Modebe Avenue, Odakpu Onitsha shortly after he demanded to know why he and other executive members of the association were suspected under the order of Chief Anuna, for demanding that the three percent Internal Generated Revenue (IGR) mean for members welfare should be save to the association account and not to the private account of the President General as being operated since the day of their inauguration in June, 2023 by governor Soludo.
He noted that his N135,000 was stolen during the attacked and he has reported the matter to the Central Police Station Onitsha and Zone 13 Police Headquarters Ukpo for proper investigation.
Narrating further about the crisis rocking the association via the release, Chief Obiagwu, appeal to governor Soludo to save ASMATA and leadership of the market from the retrogressive leadership of Chief Humphrey Anuna.
“Your Excellency, we wish to express our unalloyed gratitude on your exemplary quality leadership and the unprecedented road infrastructure, sanitation, security, employment of teachers and your sincere efforts to make Anambra State habitable again. God will continue to strengthen you Sir.
“Your Excellency, Chief Humphrey Anuna (Onwa Oraeri) is the President-General of Asmata. We the undersigned persons are among the people graciously appointed by your humble self to manage the affairs of the markets in the State and to help the government achieve its desired goals for the benefit of the citizenry. Since our appointment on 1ª December, 2022, we have not relented in doing our best to see that your government succeeds in her endeavors, particularly in the area of revenue generation, sanitation and orientation.
“Your Excellency, you may recall that, you graciously approved the deduction of 10% from the collections made by market leaders as their percentage and out of which 3% goes to the management of Asmata, according to the President General. It might sound incredible to you Sir, to hear that the 3% paid into the personal account of the President for the year 2022 by market Chairmen, which if fully paid should be about N60,000,000 (Sixty Million Naira Only) are still with Onwa Oraeri.
The President’s leadership style has made it almost impossible for the offices to work as they should, example: the Financial Secretary was sidelined, the Treasurer was sidelined, the Secretary was asked riot to write minutes of meetings, the Welfare Officer and other offices are not functioning. As a result, everyone is in darkness as regards what is happening in Asmata. if any person raises any question, the President-General will say that the Governor mandated him to choose the people that will serve him and not work with him and as such not accountable to the executive and also reserves the right to remove people, as he removed Nnewi Zonal Chairman and 1 Vice President of Asmata Mr. Obinna Okechukwu. Chief Humphrey Anuna (Onwa Oraeri) always crowns his boastful speeches by telling us that the Governor gave him the office and all the powers, to appreciate him for spending his hard earned 15,000,000.00 (Fifteen Million Naira Only) during the Governor’s campaigns period.
Your Excellency, it is pertinent to inform you that, due to the President General’s poor leadership quality, he does not enjoy the support of over 90% of the market leaders in the State. He has tactically frustrated many market Chairmen and the executive of Asmata, which made them to stop attending his meetings at Asmata Secretariat and other organized functions of the government. The President is unnecessarily quarrelling with almost all the Chairmen of large markets in the State example: Ochanja Central Market, Ose Okwodu Market, Ogbaru Relief market, Onitsha Main Market, Bridge Head market, Ogbo-Ogwu etc; and these are the markets that make Anambra State proud in the area of revenue generation and administration.
Your Excellency, the State government through the office of the Special Adviser to the Governor on Trade and Markets approved a daily collection of what we called Traders Welfare since June last year (2023), in all the markets in the state, which are in different categories: N1,000.00, N500.00, N200.00 and N100.00 depending on the type of vehicle. Sir, as we write this petition, the money is still being paid into Onwa Oraeri’s account by market chairmen and the money accruable has never been accounted for.
Your Excellency, the 3% for the collections from 2023 IGR which, if fully collected should be aver N60,000,000.00 (Sixty Million Naira Only) is also in the hands of Onwa Oraeri and that has attracted several reports to the Special Adviser on Trade and Markets and yet, no positive changes has been witnessed, instead things are getting worse. The matter was taken to the Anambra State House of Assembly by some former aggrieved persons in the year 2023 and the President general later reported to us at our meeting that the House invited him and collected 42,000,000.00 (Two Million Naira Only) from him, and yet he has not deemed it proper to address our concerns by carrying us along.
Your Excellency, there are markets who are building new shops in their markets or those who are relocating to another site, that donated shops to the executive through the President General, but we are sorry to inform you that, those shops are all in the hands of Onwa Oraeri,
Your Excellency, the worst of all these atrocities is the inhuman treatment meted to one Isuofia man named Nze Cosmas Okpala, who was also appointed by you to serve as Welfare Officer to the Asmata Executive. The President has frustrated the man and the man has gone a lot of trauma from involving in a fatal motor accident to stroke in his bid to carry out Onwa Oraeri’s assignment at Awka and yet as we write the President has not done anything to remedy the situation, at least to show that the man was carrying out the President’s payless services, before the incident.
Your Excellency, the President General has no leadership quality and he is corrupt and he has no leadership skill to mobilize traders and market leaders to respond to the needs and aspirations of government, especially now, that another election is around the comer.
The President’s poor leadership quality, greed and corrupt tendencies has made him boast that he has made over N500, 000,000.00 to the state government purse.
Obiagwu used the release to urged the governor to dissolve the leadership and appoint new officials to pilot the affairs of ASMATA in the state.
In his swift reaction, the ASMATA President General, Chief Anuna denied all the allegations, saying Obiagwu was suffering from nemesis, the evil things he has committed against him and the entire faithful members of the association.
According to him, what Mr Obiagwu is alledging of is nothing but lies from the pit of hell, our major concern now is to commence wide mobilization for Soludo second term bid come 2025.
He said his leadership had been able to stop all channels of revenue leakages through which the so-called ‘concerned citizens’ shortchanged the government and ensured that every money accruable to the Anambra government got to it.
He said he had been able to raise revenue from the market from paltry N400 million to a whopping N4.2 billion per annum assuring that his target was to take it to N10 billion in a near future.
“There has been a coordinated attack by a a group of persons within the markets who call themselves’ ‘concerned citizens’’, these are people who earn their living by collecting revenues and diverting it to their pocket, they have presence in all the market zones.
“But my Administration has been able to check their nefarious activities, they are also in the habit of not implementing government policies but we are making sure that traders become part of the civil society.
“The allegations of increase in levies is a hoax, it is just a reaction to the way we ensured that every money collected in the name of government goes to the government, that is why we have been able to increase remittance to government from N400 million to N4.2 billion per annum,” he said.
Anuna said Soludo was the governor and that traders would support him to enable him execute his policies and programme successfully, he needs money to work and we are targeting N10 billion.
He said Soludo’s second term was nonnegotiable as he had campaigned sufficiently for himself through his good works and that traders were major beneficiaries of this administration.
According to him, it is an insult for anybody to say that it is Chief Humphrey Anuna that will stall the reelection bid of Mr Governor, that is a lame threat by people who have nothing to say.
On his leadership impacts, Anuna said he was able to attract business funding of N500,000 to no fewer than 300 traders under the one youth two skills programme of the government.
He said he had set up an alternative dispute resolution mechanism which had reduced litigation involving traders as well put in place measures to check incessant fire outbreak in the markets.
The President General, who described himself as very popular among traders, said enumeration and identification of members of the market community had commenced to check infiltration.
“I have also directed that any market leader, security leaders under whom fire burns more than six shops must report himself to the security agencies, we say no more to such sabotage.
“I do not have to sing my own praise, I am very popular among traders, there is peace in the markets now, our members are now making use of the alternative dispute resolution mechanism we put in place,” he stated.
The PG urged traders and other residents in the state to disregard the information and consider it as fake news.
