Why traders should support Obiano for second term – Ogbaru Market boss

President-General of Ogbaru Main Market, near Onitsha, Chief Chukwuma Nwawuzie, has said that Anambra traders have no option than to throw their weight behind Governor Willie Obiano for the second term in office.
The President-General said this would allow the governor to continue to provide security as well as other social infrastructure to the state.
Chief Nwawuzie, who spoke during an interview with the Anambra Times in Onitsha recently, said even if it is the provision of security alone, the traders should unanimously endorse Governor Obiano because everybody who was resident in the state some few years ago knew the precarious security situation in the state, where kidnappers had no respect in abducting people.
The President-General said he was a victim of kidnapping in the state, when they abducted him along Old Road while going home, dumped him inside the boot of their car and took him to an unknown place where they beat and tied his eyes with black cloth.
At the end of the day, said the Nwawuzie, fondly called Akrika Ukpor, he parted with N3 million before they could set him free.
But Obiano, he said, came in and stopped any form of kidnapping, violent crime and indeed other forms of crime which has provided conducive business environment in the state and the residents are now sleeping with their two eyes closed.
Consequently, he said, the leadership and members of Ogbaru Main Market are not only endorsing him but insist that Anambra people across political divides should throw their selfish interest overboard and work for the continuity of Governor Obiano for another four years in office.
“Concerning Anambra State Governorship election in 2017, we are endorsing Willie Obiano for continuity. We commend him for the good works he has been doing. He is really working in the areas of security, agriculture, prompt payment of workers’ salary and provision of general infrastructure,’ he said.
He said that the Governor has the interest of the traders at heart and that is why he even went ahead of traders to discuss with the leadership of Customs in Eastern Command and Economic and Financial Crime Commission (EFCC) not to harass traders at the Akanu Ibiam International Airport and on the high ways.
He wondered how the Customs will come to the highways and seize rice and other goods bought in Lagos and Kano but turn blind eye into the warehouses where the goods were brought into, saying that there is nowhere in this world where the Customs leave the point of entries to go to the markets and roads to seize goods.
The President-General also lauded Gov. Obiano for giving communities in the state N20 million each and N10 million each to 61 markets in the state, with a promise that any community or market that judiciously utilised their own will be given another grant.
Nwawuzie was particularly grateful to Obiano for the construction of pedestrian bridge at Upper Iweka which is directly linked to his market, stating that his members are the direct beneficiary of that pedestrian bridge.
Talking on his achievement, the President-General said their major achievements have been providing peace and security in the market, building security gate at their boundary with Shoe Site Market, roofing of the market prayer ground as well as clearing of the gutter along Obodo-Ukwu Road from the market to the Police Station to head-off flooding during the rainy season.
He said that they have been working hard to address the vexed issue of adulteration in the market by having a meeting with the director of National Agency for Food and Drug Administration (NAFDAC) in Onitsha, where they agreed to set up a task force on eradiation of counterfeit products.
However, the President-General warned that anybody found indulging in adulteration will face the dire consequences of the law or out-rightly leave the market.
He lauded the President-General of the Anambra State Amalgamated Traders Association (AMATAS), Chief Okwudili Ezenwankwo, for the able way he has been piloting the markets in the state, saying that his combination with Governor Obiano has brought peace in the markets in the state.