But for the timely intervension of Ubani Divisional Police Station in Umuahia North local council area of Abia State there would have been a blood bath at the Ubani Ultra Modern Market when the traders revolted violently against the continued extortion that has enveloped the market since the inception of its current Market Chairman, Chukwuma Akaegbu.
According to eyewitness account, trouble started when strange faces trooped into the market harrasing the innocent traders for a newly introduce levey which the chairman says was authenticated by the new Commissioner for Trade and Investment, Rt. Hon. Cosmos Ndukwe.
The approach of members of the taskforce was not welcomed by most traders and before a blinking moment a fight broke out between both parties which resulted in the beating and locking up of the Market chairman among others who sustained several degrees of injuries before the Divisional Police Station was brought in to quell the uprising.
Our investigation revealed that the Chairman had at the point of taking over the market, first introduced a levy of N2,000 on every heavy duty truck that comes to the market to off-load goods and the amount collected according to a source in the market, are handed over to the office of the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Trade and Investment.
The one that broke the camel’s back was the one he introduced shortly after the newly sworn in Commissioner of the Ministry, Rt. Hon. Cosmos Ndukwe came into office and which sources close to the market says it was said to have been approved to assist in the servicing the office of the Commissioner.
Every effort to speak with the embattled Market Chairman was fruitless as he was in was said to be cooling off in the police net while those brutalized were rushed to a nearby health center as at the time of this report.
However, in a swift reaction, the Honourable Commissioner for Trade and Commerce, Rt. Hon. Cosmos Ndukwe, in a press statement stated thus: My attention has just been drawn to the collection of authorized levy from traders at Ubani – Ibeku Ultra Modern Market as reported by the media on the purported levy to ‘:service office of the Honourable Commissioner.
While I consider that as a a subtle blackmail and ill conceived namedropping, it is important that I state in very clear terms that since my inauguration on the 16th of October. 2019; I have never issued any authorisation for the collection of any levies, not even a dime, not for Ubani – Ibeku, not for any market in Abia. This decision is purely in line with the mandate to mostly streamline levies collected to eliminate in the most practical manner, all forms of multiple taxation/levies.
I have asked the relevant departments of the Ministry to investigate these allegations with a view to bringing the culprits to book.
In the meantime, traders and the general public are advised to be wary of fifth columnists, those whose primary objective is to put the government on a collusion course with the people. Whereas the government of Okezie Victor Ikpeazu Ph.D is determined to raise the State’s Internally Generated Revenue (IGR), this will not be done with any form of disregard to the collective interest of the people.
Please, let us be properly guided, he added.
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