By Chuks Eke
Palpable tension resonated in the commcial city of Onitsha, Anambra state on Tuesday as a combined team of police men and men of Operation Clean and Healthy Anambra state, OCHA Brigade stormed the popular Iweka Road Street Trading area to enforce a relocation order on members of Radio and Television Technicians in Anambra state.
The police team, led by the second-in-command of Onitsha Police Area Çommand and the Onitsha Zonal leader of OCHA Brigade simply identified as 10-10 arrived Iweka Road late in the afternoon and asked the Technicians to close their shops and relocate to a new market at Harbor Estate, an outskirt of Onitsha.
However, the timely intervention of the Chairman of Technicians, Chief Sabastine Ebilite calmed the frayed nerves as he intimated the team of a subsisting ex-parte motion obtained by his association on August 15, this year from an Awka High court presided over by Justice D.C. Maduechesi and the team retreated.
Reacting to the development, Ebilite told newsmen that members of Electronics Dealers Association who were at Iweka Road with the Technicians for years had procured a piece of land at Harbor Estate few years ago and built their own independent market where they had just relocated to but instead of quietly relocating their members, they are now forcing the Technicians to join them to the Harbor Estate.
Ebilite said the Technicians refused to relocate to the Harbor Estate with Electronic dealers because they do not have shops there neither did the technicians contribute any fund with Electronic dealers to buy the land since the two bodies are different entities.
He said when the Electronic dealers made an initial move to force the Technicians to relocate to the Harbor Estate with them, they complained to both the state government and Anambra State Markets Amalgamated Traders Association, ASMATA which intervened and asked the Technicians to remain at Iweka Road.
He wondered what must have prompted the Electronics dealers to reopen the old wounds few months after the matter has been resolved in favour of the technicians.
Reacting to the development, Chairman of ASMATA Conflict Resolution Committee, Chief Eric Uwaoma told newsmen in his office at Traders House that although his committee had waded into the matter and resolve that the technicians should remain at Iweka Road, leaders of the technicians have failed to visit the Traders House to fine-tune the resolution.
Uwaoma therefore suggested that Ebilite, Chairman of the Technicians and his executive should visit his committee as soon as possible to douse the current tension once and for all.
