By Eze Chukwu
Hon. Chijioke Edeoga, the governorship candidate of the Labour Party in the 2023 elections in Enugu State has asked Governor Peter Mbah to apologise to the people of the state that were affected by the widespread demolition of properties by the state government.
Edeoga also said Governor Mbah should admit that the demolition exercises his administration embarked upon in several parts of the state were unconstitutional actions which have caused harm on several households.
Speaking at a press conference at the Labour Party national secretariat, Abuja, he lamented the demolitions of markets and private properties, most of which he said were done without notice to the owners, and insisted that the damage done to people outweigh the benefits the government might have had in mind in embarking on the demolitions.
Recall that the Enugu State government recently demolished several properties, in Enugu and Nsukka purportedly for urban renewal.
Affected in the demolition exercise properties around the Old Park and Abakpa Nike Enugu, and Ogige Market, Nsukka where private properties were equally destroyed.
The Labour Party chieftain likened the demolition, which took place in June 2024, to the horrors of the 1966 to 1970 Nigerian civil war and its immediate aftermath, and said that that the affected people and their dependents, and their sources of income and sustenance.
Edeoga said: “These destructions were executed in other centers of commerce and human habitation in Enugu metropolis, including; Gariki, Abakpa, and then Ogige market in Nsukka Local Government Area.
“The devastations, the horrors of which are beyond normal human contemplation were executed with little or no notice. They attracted widespread condemnation. and even outright demonstrations and marches by aggrieved people in parts of the state.
“The Enugu state government countered the points raised against its action with ready-made rebuttals and defences, lamely arguing that destruction must necessarily precede development; that the state government acted to restore the state’s master-plan; that compensations have been paid to the affected persons; modern bus terminals will serve better and, in the case of Ogige market in Nsukka, when the outcry became quite loud and ominous, that the state government had provided an alternative location for the displaced traders.
“These destructions, directed by the Enugu State Government on a vast and unprecedented scale as I pointed out earlier were executed also at Gariki, in Enugu South LGA, Abakpa in Enugu East LGA, and at Ogige-Nsukka market in Nsukka LGA. Ogige-Nsukka market is equally a huge market but stands apart from the other three major centers of trade and commerce that were destroyed by agents of Enugu state government.
“Ogige-Nsukka market is at once an emporium, a cultural center, and a daily market that serves both the interest of the locals of the immediate Nsukka environment and other buyers and sellers from Kogi, Benue, and other parts of Northern Nigeria.
“The Ogige-Nsukka market predates by decades the independence of Nigeria and has grown and spurned other satellite markets. Ogige-Nsukka market is the 2nd biggest market in Enugu state and like Onitsha Market, is both host and destination of choice for buyers and sellers from its immediate constituency, particularly but not limited to students of the UNN and people from other parts of Nigeria and beyond.
“The Enugu state government claimed that it had resettled the traders of the Ogige Nsukka market. The falsehood in this statement is laid bare by the presence, every day, of hundreds of traders whose shops were destroyed as they mill around the grounds of the destroyed market, daily, hawking goods that a few weeks ago they dispensed from their own shops securely and with dignity.
“If really the state government allocated shops to them, why would they prefer to mill around the destroyed market, in the circumstances of utter degradation and humiliation?
“Second, matters have now been complicated further by pictures that are available worldwide of the deployment on the grounds of the demolished Ogige-Nsukka market of giant-sized fuel tanks and several pipes and other related facilities hinting at a sinister possibility that part of the reason for the utter and near complete destruction of a communal market and therefore public facility is to make way for a petrol filling station.
“So, the question in the heart of many who wait patiently for an answer is this: ‘Were more than 1000 shops serving the direct and indirect interest of more than 100,000 persons destroyed to make way for a petrol filling station?
“Third, in destroying the National headquarters of both Ifesinachi Transport Ltd and Peace Mass Transit, the state government claimed that it acted to restore the masterplan of the Ogige-Nsukka market.
“This claim seriously discredits the state government in the eyes of most adults in the Nsukka area because everyone knows that in destroying the plazas belonging to Ifesinachi Transport Ltd and Peace Mass Transit, the state government is by so doing, laying claims to the very grounds that accommodated Premier Hotel Nsukka, which was adjacent but substantially separated from the motor park that has now been destroyed to make way for the construction of what the state government claims to be a terminal; some sort of a glorified Motor park, you daresay.”
He advised Gov. Mbah to take remedial steps, among which include, the construction of relief markets at strategic points in parts of the state for the immediate use of the displaced traders, the payment of restitutions to those whose private properties may have been demolished in error, and the payment of compensation to all the affected traders
