Traders at Ogbo-Osisi Market, Onitsha, Reject Caretaker Leadership, Demand Election

I’mBy Polycarp Ifeanyi

Traders in the UBA Plank and Joist Association Ltd, popularly known as Ogbo-Osisi, at Bridge Head Market, Onitsha, Anambra State, have rejected the caretaker executive appointed for the market by Governor Charles Soludo.
They urged the Anambra State Ministry of Commerce and Industry to conduct an election that would enable the traders elect those who will lead them and oversee the affairs of the market.
The Anambra State government, through the Office of the Special Adviser to the Governor on Trade and Commerce, had appointed a 10-man caretaker executive to oversee the affairs of the market for a period of three months.
A letter to this effect, signed by the Special Adviser to the Governor on Trade and Market, Chief Everest Uba, was dated March 6, 2023.
The letter stated that the constitution of the caretaker committee was “highly necessary” due to the expiration of the tenure of the incumbent leadership headed by Chief Emmanuel Obunze as chairman.
However, when the President-General of Bridge Head Markets, Onitsha, Hon. Chinedu Ezekwike, arrived at the market with his team on Wednesday, March 11, to introduce the new leadership, the traders unanimously rejected the caretaker executive and insisted that they wanted a leadership they would elect themselves.
One of the traders, Ndubisi Uwadiegwu, who spoke on behalf of traders in the market, said that timber traders needed elected, not imposed, leaders.
He also alleged that the chairman of the caretaker committee, as introduced to the traders, Mr. Odirachukwu Nwosu, had a questionable character and could not make a good leader.
According to him:“We, the traders in this market, reject anything called caretaker. We want to elect our leaders ourselves. Again, this man, Odirachukwu Nwosu, whom the government has given us as caretaker chairman, cannot make a good leader.
“He was once our Financial Secretary in the previous executive in this market. After their tenure, several millions of naira were missing from our coffers, and as the Financial Secretary he could not give an account of it. So, if he should ever lead this market as chairman, his everyday activities will generate crisis in the market.”
Uwadiegwu’s response generated loud applause among the traders, interrupting the discussions for several minutes.
Meanwhile, the President-General of Bridge Head Markets, Hon. Chinedu Ezekwike, insisted that the new leadership would assume duty, adding that traders who felt aggrieved should channel their grievances through the appropriate channels.

He said:“I am only a messenger of the Anambra State government; I did not appoint the caretaker myself. The state government oversees and manages the activities of all the markets in the state and reserves the power to constitute a caretaker committee in any of the markets.
“So, if you have any complaints, you can either come to me or go to Awka and complain to the state government. But for me, I will advise that you give the new caretaker executive the necessary recognition and cooperation so that they can serve the market better,”