Members of Iron Dealers Union, Atani in Ogbaru Local Government Area of Anambra State have called on Governor Chukwuma Soludo to prevail on their former chairman, Nnaemeka Onuzululike to hand over their plots to them.
The traders who had paid for plots at Nteje, Oyi Local Goverment Area of the state to build new market also appealed to Soludo to order Onuzululike and his cohorts not to chase them out of Atani road where they had been carrying out their legitimate businesses.
Addressing newsmen in Onitsha, spokesman of the group, Okafor Celestine Uzochukwu, who is the current Financial Secretary of the Union said the appeal became more expedient as they had been in court with the former chairman over the Nteje land.
He accused him of using the money he got from selling their plots to fight them and compromised several individuals.
He said: “Trouble started sometime in 2014 when we joined with other unions: Iron Dealers Porthacourt Road, Iron Dealers Union, Uga Street, Pipe and Plumbing Dealers, Bridgehead all in Onitsha and others to acquire land to build new market at Nteje.
“When we got the land, about 1,200 plots, the former chairman asked us to pay N150,000.00 in three tranches of N50,000 each which we did.
“In 2015 or thereabout, Nnaemeka told us that the place had an issue and asked us to pay another N100,000 each to resolve it which we did and he confirmed that it has been resolved.
“But unfortunately, when we called him to show us the plots we had paid for he refused. Instead of showing us the plots of land, he asked us to pay another money, this time N1,450,000 each person who had earlier paid N250,000.
“We went to court. But while still in court the former chairman went to build shops and started selling them, including some plots to outsiders.
Reacting, Onuzululike denied handing over fake documents to Caretaker Committee, arguing that most of the documents in his possession were being used for court cases and he could not have handed them over to the Caretaker.
He also said arguments of showing them their plots were baseless as there were nowhere markets were built in plots but by the accepted standard sizes.
“There is no truth in the allegations that I hijacked the plots they bought for traders at Nteje. They refused to join others to pay up their money to their own shops and were busy formeting trouble,” he added.
