By Chinwe Nwacha, Onitsha
Chief Innocent Ezeoha, chairman of the popular Onitsha Main market, Anambra State, weekend accused the Ocha Brigade, the state decongestion outfit, of working against the interest of the State Governor, Prof Chukwuma Soludo, to decongest all streets/roads in the state.
Reacting against the backdrop of the arrest of a member of Main Market taskforce, Mr Chinasa Anyabuoke, over alleged touring, by Ocha Brigade, Chief Ezeoha, reiterated that there is no single tout working for Main Market rather they have taskforce members he constituted to decongest the market.
He expressed surprise that some people who called themselves Ocha Brigade adhoc staff arrested a member of his taskforce and tagged him a tout.
Ezeoha said they have been able to decongest major areas in the market in accordance with the directive of the Governor especially Bright and Johnson streets, lamenting that the victim was arrested on November 21 2013, at Bright Street where he was carrying out his lawful duty of decongesting the place and detained for two consecutive days.
"He was beaten to stupor, taken to their office where they took his picture, posted online, alleging that he was extorting money from traders and carrying weapons such as matchete and shut gun, which he denied.
"He later was taken to Central Police Station (CPS) Onitsha which in turn arraigned him at Magistrate Court that granted him bail on Thursday, November 23, 2023," he further disclosed.
"Anyabuoke was not carrying any gun as alleged by the Ocha Brigade Adhoc team, rather they were the people who carry arms and extort money from traders, saying that they were not happy that they didn’t see traders they would extort money from, hence the attempt to blackmail the leadership of the market for usurping their function of decongestion," he stated.
The chairman appealed that Main Market should be allowed to use its structure to sanitize the market , wondering the undue interest and interference in the market by extraneous bodies.
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