45 Anambra communities condemn attack on Commerce Commissioner, demand arrest of petitioners

By Phil Okose, Onitsha

No fewer than 45 communities in Anambra South Senatorial zone, Old Aguata Union, OAU, traders, otherwise called Nzukora,  Anambra State, Wednesday, rose against the petition to Governor Charles Chukwuma Soludo, by a yet to be identified group, Elite of Anambra State Traders’, against the Commissioner for Commerce and Industry, Hon. Obinna Ngonadi.

The communities, in a press release signed by their coordinator, comrade Peter Okala, which was made available to newsmen in Onitsha, demanded for the immediate arrest and prosecution of those behind the petition that accused the Commissioner of selling market leadership positions to the highest bidders and imposition of caretaker committees in some markets for pecuniary benefits.

According to Okala the arrest and prosecution would serve as deterrent to would be future offenders adding that the Commissioner needs not be distracted in the performance of his duty.

The petition read in part thus, “Our attention has been drawn to a frivolous, false, blasphemous, sacrilegious and laughable petition to Governor Charles Soludo, accusing the Commissioner, Ministry of Commerce and Industry, Hon. Obinna Ngonadi, of selling market leadership positions to the highest bidders, copied to 21 prominent Individuals and organizations”.

Okala reterated that ordinarily, such display of bigotry and example of little madness of a faceless group, ought to have been ignored, but for the unsuspecting general public whom their outbursts were meant to deceive.

He said that mere looking at the so called Forum of the Elite of Anambra State Traders, one would only conclude that the criminalities and corruption which has eaten deep into the fabrics of the Anambra State Internal Revenue Generation, IGR, profile, which was dismantled by the Anambra State Government, through the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, is obviously fighting back.

He recalled that at the Inception of this Administration, about 70 per cent of Anambra State IGR, were being diverted to private pockets by market leaders who took over collections of these funds for the State Government.

According to him there was the advice of the Transition Committee and the decision of Anambra State Government, that all the flawed elections /selections that produced those criminal elements as market leaders, should be dissolved.

Okala revealed that Commissioner Ngonadi, through the directive and decision of the Anambra State Executive Council, announced the dissolution of the first 32 affected   markets by the flawed unopposed elections / selection and subjected those individuals market leaders to Investigation.

“Sometimes these corrupt market leaders unilaterally changed the names of their market associations in active connivance with some staff of the Commerce and Industry Ministry, in committing their crimes, all available spaces Inside the markets for motor parks, emergency exits, access roads and even water channels were flooded with shops and malls and these so called market leaders issue Government allocation to unsuspecting traders, even as these illegal structures have since been marked by the Ministry of Commerce and Industry and would soon be demolished” he said.

He said further that hundreds of millions of Anambra State Government funds have been traced to the sponsors of the above hollow and ill-conceived petition which content was designed to malign the good Image of the Hon Commissioner, by these elements who have been indicted by the revered office of the Hon. Commissioner.

He said, “court cases were only initiated by these criminals to stall Investigation by security agencies who have been mandated by the Hon. Commissioner, to bring the culprits to book”.

“A careful study of the so called petition would reveal the antics of a drowning man that lays hands to just anything, a blind man could see the bad faith and evil Intentions of the weak, whose main aim was just to tarnish the good image of the Hon. Commissioner, that’s why it was copied to all and sundry in order to ambush the Government,” he said.

Okala recalled that on the 19th September, 2022, the same group went to Odenigbo 99.1 Radio  FM, Station, and did a phone-in-program, on this same evil agenda and were rejected by Ndi Anambra, as all those who called could not identify them as traders but were praying and blessing the state Government for the rescue mission.

He said that contrary to the above atrocious and fabrications against  the person and office of the Hon. Commissioner, the entire markets in Anambra State, were returned to their lost glory by the Commissioner.