Traders, Police at war over market in Ebonyi

[MrVan]

By PETER OKUTU, Abakaliki

PALPABLE fears and uncontrollable anxiety are said to be plaguing the minds of over 5000 traders of the popular Kpirikpiri Market located directly opposite Saint Patrick Road, Amikeaba, in Ebonyi Local Government Area of Ebonyi State.

This is against the backdrop of the last episode that took them away from where they were during the administration of the first Executive Governor of Ebonyi State, Dr. Sam Egwu.

Formerly, they were located along old Enugu Road, Kpirikpiri, until a mysterious fire gutted the area, leaving most of their shops, valuables and goods worth millions of naira destroyed. Some die-hard critics had alleged then the incident was caused by some bad eggs in the former administration in a bid to drive the traders out of the location.

However, the location where they were driven away from has been converted to a relaxation spot for the affluent or political office holders who have little or no regard for the average person in the state. Just last month, at the new location where these poor traders sell and exhibit their wares, some policemen from Abuja decided to commence the erection of a police barracks, which has now defaced the beauty of the market.

It is on record that since the market was moved to its present location over seven years ago, the state government was yet  to build shops there or landscape it for the benefit of the traders and buyers who come there from different parts of the country, including Anambra, Enugu and Cross Rivers states, among others, to transact business.

A section of the disputed market...Traders are opposed to being moved to a new location Vanguard Metro, VM, gathered that before the quick intervention of the Commissioner for Commerce and Industry, Ebonyi State, Dr. Ifeanyi Ike, the policemen had allegedly destroyed some of shops in the market in order to have enough  land for the construction of the police post approved for the State by the Federal Government through the office of the Inspector General of Police, IGP, Mohammed Abubakar.

The approval for the construction of the police post in the state is not what worries these  traders, but the choice of the location. They perceive the move as a subtle ploy by government to chase them out of where they are presently to another location in the state.

It would be recalled that the last destruction of the market along Kpirikpiri road led to the death of some traders and the impoverishment of others who felt they had come to the end of the road in life. But Dr. Ike who stressed the importance of the police post, insisted that only a part of the market would be used in the construction of the police station even as he urged the traders to be calm as the state government would not do anything to cause them pain in the long run.

"The market will remain. If the market is moving at all, that is when we are sure that we have finished our International Market and government feels that there is need for them to move there; we will move them and give them befitting shops and not these ramshackle structures. Let them remain calm and they will know their fate".

Reacting to the development, Chairman of Kpirikpiri Market Union, Abakaliki, Mr. Chukwuma Odigbo, who lamented that the previous administration in the state did not compensate them over the fire disaster that occurred in the market in 2005, appealed to Governor Martin Elechi to develop the market because of its economic importance to the state.

"Since 2005, when our former market was burnt down at the old Enugu road during the leadership of the former Governor, Dr. Sam Egwu, the government promised that they will compensate us and will build another market and relocate us to a new site. They only succeeded in moving us to a new location without structures and other facilities," he said.

Odigbo prefers that if  government  should relocate them, it should be to a place with already built facilities and structures so as not to aggravate the suffering of the traders.

Vanguard Nigeria