The Anambra State Market Stakeholders & Elders Forum has strongly condemned Hon. Echezona Anazodo's denial of collecting taxes from traders in Agboedo Market Nnewi F Line. In a statement issued to newsmen in Onitsha, the leader of the forum, Mr. Oliver Nwachukwu expressed dismay at how Hon. Anazodo could lie to journalists he called to have a media chat with him over the weekend that his administration was not engaging in any kind of taxation. He said it's disheartening that someone like a local government chairman can go this low to lie against substantial evidences that abound and even when accounts where provided to that effect.
Mr. Nwachukwu also bemoned the statement credited to the honorable member representing Nnewi North LGA at the state house of assembly, who came out to support the chairman for working against the government of Prof Charles Soludo by overstressing the traders with tax, and wondered why Hon. Augustine Onyekachukwu Ike, is defending the local government chairman despite overwhelming evidence, asking if he in involved in the allegations about what is happening in the market as well.
The group berated Hon. Ike that since he is aware that revenue must not be collected manually as stipulated by the law, why then should he endorse a local government chairman who has done the contrary. They stressed that Agboedo United Market Nnewi is not a local market and as such should have no control from the local government and wondered why himself as a stakeholder should support that the local government invade the market and starts collecting revenue. The group said they were angered by his allegations of false narratives, as they have evidence of where this said funds went into, and will ensure that the truth is revealed. On the issue of traders not knowing the implications of their actions, Mr Oliver Nwachukwu asked " Is Hon. Ike in the know that citizens have a right to protest against injustice and intimidation that has been melted on them by the local government chairman and his cohorts or is he just playing to the gallery for vested interest"?
On the issue of petition coming to him at the house of assembly, Mr. Nwachukwu said that no petition was sent to the honorable member, for obvious reasons which has definitely played out with his interview with headline News recently, as their petition was directed to Mr Governor. Prof Charles Soludo and copied to the SSG.
The elders questioned Hon. Ike's moral authority to defend the indefensible, citing documentation and proof of the collected funds, and intention to collect more from the people if not for their intervention and the protest by the traders. They alleged that the intended removal of market chairmen in Nnewi were orchestrated in collusion with officials in Awka, who wants to cover their tracks, but promised that all will be unveiled in no distant time.