The Transition Council Chairman of Onitsha South Local Government, Anambra State, Hon. Emeka Orji has been accused of rascality and maliciously inflicting damages to traders under the aegis of Plank and Joist Association (UPJA) at Bridge head Market, Onitsha.
Hon. Orji is accused of not being a respecter of law and abusing people’s fundamental right as he carried out his duty as the Onitsha South Local Government transition Chairman.
Briefing newsmen in his Onitsha office, Chief Clifford Iloegbune Okoye, Lawyer to Plank and Joist Association (UPJA) said that Hon. Orji and his cohorts without notice to traders and without following due process of law went into the (UPJA) Market and pulled down the plazas built by traders on Monday when they were observing sit at home.
Chief Okoye noted that Hon. Orji did not mind goods in the warehouse, and goods in the shops and pulled down the plazas as well as goods worth millions of Naira.
“UPJA is an association of traders dealing in Timbers at Bridge head Market, Onitsha. They are law abiding citizens. Sometime last year, Onitsha South transition Chairman, Hon. Emeka Orji and his cohorts took Law into their hands went without notice into that Market and pulled down plazas built by the association”
” The association before erecting the plazas followed all the due process of Law applied by the Anambra State Government through the auspices of Anambra State Urban development Board. The plaza was duly approved. They did not just built it like that, they also applied and got Environmental impact Assessment Report for the building”
In the course of the building, the appropriate authority kept supervising the project from the beginning to the end and at the end of the day, the building was completed and members who subscribed to it were given shops. Unfortunately, the Chairman of Onitsha South Local Government, Hon. Emeka Orji without notice, without following due process of Law went into the Market, pulled down the plazas on Monday when traders were observing sit at home”
According to Okoye, the Association did not want to take law into their hands because what happened was eyesore which he said could have triggered uncontrollable riot and mob action.
He said that the leadership of the association pleaded with the members to remain calm that they would follow it through the process of law, saying that he served a pre-action notice to Anambra State Government, Onitsha South Local Government as well as Hon. Emeka Orji.
He said” I as the lawyer to the association also made a personal call to the Chairman. Notwithstanding those approaches, the Government did not respond, no action was taken by the Government. It appeared that the properties of the traders damaged in the Market was done without caring for the welfare of the citizens in the Market”
” Not that the shops caused obstructions. No reason was given by the State Government or Onitsha South Local Government or by the transition Council Chairman for the demolition of the buildings. I waited for the Government to respond to no avail. My clients went to court. We filed action suit No 0335/2023. The pre-action notice was to disclose our grievances to Government and expected them to invite us for discussions”
” The matter came up on March 5,2024, my clients were in the court, the Government did not come to court, the Chairman of Onitsha South did not come to court and Court adjourned to April 10, 2024 for hearing”
The lawyer however said that the Onitsha South Local Government Chairman, Hon. Emeka Orji got information that the matter filed against them had been fixed for hearing, went back to the Market on March 14, 2024 and threatened traders that he would demolish more shops.
Okoye also said that the shop was built over 30 years, saying that Hon. Orji was threatening traders simply because traders are challenging the rationality behind demolishing their plazas which they built.
” I am very sure that the Governor of Anambra State, Professor Charles Soludo, is not aware of this rascality. What Hon. Emeka Orji in Onitsha South Local Government and Markets in Onitsha South has no blessings to Anambra State. The Government of . Anambra State headed by a Professor of Economics knows what to do at the appropriate time like this”
He further explained that the Governor visited the Market and passed through Niger Street and he never raised any objection against any building in the Market, even as he said immediately the Governor left, Hon. Orji mobilized thugs and demolished more structures.
” What have traders at the Bridge head Market done to Hon. Orji that warranted demolishing the properties of Ndigbo. And I say it again, we can not face tribulations in other parts of the country and also in our own land. The shops which traders built are not illegal structures. The shops marked demolition are shops generating revenue to the State Government. All eyes should be on Hon. Emeka Orji. He has shown not to be a respecter of law. He can not come out of bravado and begin to demolish people’s shops” Okoye concluded.
Contacting the Onitsha South Local Government Chairman through his Secretary, Mr. Paul Onuachara, he said that what Chief Okoye said is baseless, saying that what prompted the demolition was that traders built shops under high tension wire.
Comment here