BY POLYCARP IFEANYI / ONITSHA
Traders under the auspices of “Union Plywood and Joinery Association ( UPJA)”, Onitsha in Anambra State, have threatened to sue the Anambra State Government and Onitsha South Local Government Council for allegedly demolition their structures worth over one billion naira.
To this end, the Leadership of UPJA led by Chief Emmanuel Obunso, has called on the state governor, Charles Soludo, to direct the Caretaker Committee Chairman of Onitsha South Local Government, Hon. Emeka Orji to rebuild their plaza pulled down by his agents recently.
Speaking to newsmen in Onitsha at the weekend, Chief Obunso also demanded that the traders in the plaza whose wares and goods were destroyed should be compensated .
Chief Obunso said if the Chairman fails to comply with their demands, they would not have no other option than to head to court to enforce their fundamental rights.
“We will take legal action if the Government fails to rebuild the plaza demolished illegally by the Chairman as well as make him pay for the cost of the goods equally destroyed during the demolition”, he added.
According to him, they have all documents for the buildings including an approval from Anambra State physical Planning Board lamenting that there was no notice from either the Local Government or State Government to the effect demolition of the structures to enable trader remove their wares.
The unionist insisted that the agents of the Local Government Chairman or himself did not ask for relevant documents of the building, saying that they were not outlaws who would just start building without approval from relevant authorities.
He said the buildings were erected in 2021 when the present Chairman was not even appointed, stressing that anybody in doubt should have come to them or go to the board for clarification.
He said when the former Commissioner for Trade, Commerce and Markets , Dr. Obinna Ngonadi, demanded for the documents of the buildings, they were given to him and he was satisfied.
He lamented that the local government Caretaker Chairman as an official of the local government Caretaker government and his agents failed to follow due process in carrying out the demolition of the plaza.
“We did not build the plaza in secret. It was not built at night. They demanded N30 million from us because of the buildings but I don’t have such money to give him.Then the Chairman came and demolished the building. He is a Caretaker Committee Chairman, not even an elected Chairman. It is unfortunate” he said.
Obunso said he cannot put the actual cost of the damages but stated that the cost of the building which has 30 shops is not less than N500m.
He said some of the traders at the demolished plaza are “high net worth traders” and importers , saying that one of them has goods worth about N150m, while others have goods ranging from N10m and above.
When the Care-taker Chairman of Onitsha South Local Government was called to react on the allegations, calls were going but it was not picked. He was also sent messages in which he replied that he is currently in London.
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