By Amos Igbebe
In continuation of his war against ex-Governor Emmanuel Uduaghan’s programmes and appointees in Delta, Senator Ifeanyi Okowa, Governor of Delta State, has sacked all traders and market women who were allocated stalls and shops at the Ultra-Modern Market in Sapele at the last quarter of former Governor Emmanuel Uduaghan.
Loading ...Okowa, who was silent on the rationale behind sending the market women packing, issued the command in a government special announcement, signed by the State Director of Information, Paul Osahor, and made available on Tuesday.
The statement said all monies paid by the traders into the Ultra-Modern Market Account in Sterling Bank would be refunded to the depositors, hence he urged the women to present valid identity card, proof of allocation of shops and receipt indicating payment for the stores and shops allocated for the immediate refund of their money.
The Governor said “the refund of the money to depositors, which takes immediate effect, is the first step being taken by the state government in a fresh exercise to reallocate the market shops and stalls to prospective traders after the full completion of the Sapele Ultra-Modern Market.
“Consequently, all the previous allotees and persons currently occupying shops and stalls in the market are by this announcement advised to evacuate their wares from the market immediately”.
The Governor advised the traders to tender the documents to duly accredited officials of the state government at the Sapele Local Government Secretariat from Monday, November 23 to Friday, November 27 and warned all the women to comply without delay.
It could be recalled that the contentious Sapele market had been an issue of challenge since the days of former Governor of the state, Chief James Onanefe Ibori.
It was learnt that the market got burnt in the days of Ibori and seeing the economic value of the market, he awarded it for reconstruction in 2006. The slow pace of reconstruction and the politics surrounding government projects, slowed the project down till the present administration of Okowa.
It was gathered that Uduaghan’s government had attempted completing the project but had only signed the certificate with the contractor handling the project but could not release the last N400m before the close of his administration on May 29, 2015.
At the inception of Okowa’s government, Governor Okowa issued a directive for the payment of N400m for the completion of the market. Many unsuspecting Deltans applauded the move while a few felt aggrieved over the large sum of money for the completion of the market.
But the interview granted by former Chief of Staff to Uduaghan, Paulinus Akpeki, unraveled the mystery behind the N400m paid by Okowa. Akpeki told journalists that the N400m Okowa paid had already been approved and paper work completed by Uduaghan but for bureaucratic bottlenecks, he could not release the money before he left office.
It was also learnt that each market woman paid N2000 per month making a total of N24,000 per year.
What is, however, baffling is the rationale behind the evacuation of the traders from the market as they have been allocated by the former governor while the construction goes on.
But in a phone call made to the state Commissioner for Information, Patrick Ukah, to reveal the rationale behind sacking the women from the market, he asked “is the market along the road, on hearing no. He probed further, “is the market under the Ministry of Commerce and Industry” and with an affirmative response, he said “wait I’ll call you back”, but he never called back.
Also, Chief Press Secretary to the Governor, Charles Ehiedu Aniagwu, was called but did not pick his calls and never called back, though he saw missed calls on his phone.
