PHIL OKOSE, Onitsha
As the intra-crisis rocking the Onitsha Drug market, (Ogbogwu), Bridge head market, Anambra state deepens unabated, a rival group under the aegis of ‘Justice for Ogbogwu,’ has cleared the air on why it protested against the leadership of Mr. Chukwuleta Ndubuisi, accusing him of extortion and high-handedness.
Chukwuleta had denied all the allegations the group leveled against him and described the group as “terrorists” who want him eliminated for stopping them from dealing in fake drugs.
Fielding questions from newsmen, the group begged Governor Chukwuma Soludo to sack the chairman from office over arbitrary leadership, extortion, high-handedness, intimidation and collaboration with security operatives to witch hunt the majority of the traders in the market.
Speaking through a spokesman, Chief Ekezie Ugochukwu, the group demanded for the immediate resignation of the market chairman and substitution with a man of the people, stating that the chairman assisted the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) to worsen their condition.
“We are against dealing in fake drugs and will never support it but the chairman deals in unregistered drugs which are same with fake drugs. So for him to fight fake drugs as he claims, he has to start from himself because he planted his boys in all the exit routes in the market from where his boys assist in ushering in fake drugs and collect money for him.
“When we returned to the market after the NAFDAC mop-up operation which lasted for about seven months instead of Chukwuketa to have mercy on the traders for not doing anything within this period, he rather subjected us to further financial burdens.
“Any opposition to his actions and decisions, the next thing is that he will send security operatives against the person,n which is pure intimidation and because we demanded for his account of stewardship he labeled us opposition and terrorists.
He keeps saying he’s suffering for the market but refuses to resign since he is suffering for us.”
“He boasts to us that the governor and Special Adviser to the governor on Trade and Markets, Evaristus Uba, are his brothers and as such we have no power to remove him.
We believe the governor will come to our rescue by sacking him and constituting a caretaker committee prior to the coming gubernatorial election in the state,” they pleaded.
Contributing, a member of the group, Mr. Emmanuel Ozoemena, explained that the protest intensified last Friday when Chukwuleta and his committee began a shop-to-shop revenue drive, demanding ₦300,000 from each trader. The amount, he said, was allegedly meant to appease the South-East Zonal Director of NAFDAC, Dr. Martins Iluyomade, so that the agency would cease further raids on the market.
“Chukwuleta warned that any trader who failed to pay would have his shop searched for unregistered drugs, while those who complied would be spared,” Ozoemena stated.
“The drive was worsened when Chukwuleta entered the shop of a female trader, Mrs. Ogechukwu Ifejiofor, demanding evidence of payment. When the trader demanded a search warrant there was a heated argument that degenerated into violence, forcing Chukwuleta and his team to retreat as traders booed them with chants of, “Ndubuisi thieves!”, he disclosed.
Ozoemena accused Chukwuleta of conspiring with NAFDAC to impose a ₦700,000 levy on affected traders whose shops were sealed since February 9 and ₦3,000 from each trader as a security levy for the months of February to April, despite the fact that market security personnel were inactive within the period under review.
“Even when our security men were arrested and detained at Army barracks during the NAFDAC operation, Chukwuleta still forced traders to pay for their services. Normally, we pay ₦300 per month, but he collected ₦1,000 monthly during those three months,” he claimed.
He further accused the chairman of collecting ₦50,000 per shop, totaling about ₦25 million, allegedly for the installation of a transformer.
In his own contribution, Mr. Chibueze Ifejiofor, also a member of the group stated that he was once suspended based on Chukwuleta’s allegations against him but was later reinstated after investigations cleared him.
“I voluntarily resigned from the caretaker committee due to the injustice and highhandedness of Chukwuleta. I was even commended by NAFDAC after their inspection. How can the same man now label me a fake drug dealer?”
“I expected NAFDAC to arrest the entire executives and question how fake drugs got into the market under their watch,” he said.
In a swift reaction when contacted, Mr. Chukwuleta denied all allegations leveled against him and described the group as terrorists who want his down fall and to eliminate him because he is working to ensure Federal Government directive that the market be ridden of fake drugs.
According to Chukwuleta, the transformer installation and security levy decisions were made collectively during general meetings.
“I never imposed ₦25 million or demanded ₦50,000 per shop. All expenses were presented and discussed during a general meeting, and it was agreed that the cost would be shared after normalcy returned.”
On the security levy hike, he said the personnel worked both day and night during the closure period, which necessitated the temporary increase while the ₦300,000 levy, Chukwuleta described it as baseles,s pointing out that those attacking him were previously barred for dealing in fake drugs and have no shops in the market.
“They are the same people who attacked NAFDAC during their inspection, which worsened the market’s situation. I never bragged about being related to Governor Soludo or Chief Evaristus Uba,” he said.
He alleged that one of the protesters, Mr. Emmanuel Ozoemena, had no legitimate business in the market and was merely spearheading efforts to remove him.
“These people threatened my life and that of my executive. But we continue to alert security agents to avoid violence,” he said.
Chukwuleta also denied conspiring with NAFDAC or selling seized/fake drugs, maintaining that all inspection exercises were agreed upon by the traders and duly authorized stating that the recent protest against him was not a protest but mob action to eliminate him for insisting on dealing on genuine drugs in the market.
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