The Chairman of Enugu North Local Government Area of Enugu State, Hon. Emeka Onunze, has denied a story trending on the social media that the Akwatta section of Ogbete Main Market, Enugu, has been sold to a transportation company, Peace Mass Transit Limited.
The Council Chairman, in a statement sent to Igbere TV, described the media reports as “false, misleading, baseless, mischievous and a failed calculated attempt to undermine our genuine efforts to upgrade the environmental condition of the market for the health and wellbeing of our people”.
Hon. Onunze, who disclosed that his “office is constitutionally saddled with the responsibility of overseeing the affairs of the market”, maintained that the Council has no intention of selling the market.
He explained that “we have temporarily relocated the traders of the Tomato market in Akwatta to Garki Market, Enugu, to enable the Council rebuild the section of the Ogbete Main Market to standard before they return to the market to continue their business transactions”.
According to him, “the administrative process for the reconstruction of the Akwatta Market is ongoing and we wish to reiterate that the project is dear to us and receiving urgent attention”.
While reiterating that that “the government did not sell Akwatta Market to anybody or company as is mischievously being peddled”, the Council Chairman “recalled that our Council, in view of the reality of the Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) pandemic and in furtherance of its commitment to enthrone basic standard hygiene in the market and its environs, on March 24, 2020, shut down the Tomato section of Akwatta in Ogbete Main Market, Enugu, before the general closure of the entire market”.
The full text of the statement reads:
AKWATTA MARKET ENUGU, NOT SOLD
“The attention of Enugu North Local Government Area of Enugu State has been drawn to the misleading story trending on the social media, alleging that the Akwatta section of the Ogbete Main Market, Enugu, has been sold to Peace Mass Transit Limited.
“As Chairman of the Local Government Council where the said market is located, whose office is constitutionally saddled with the responsibility of overseeing the affairs of the market, I wish to state categorically that the story is false, baseless, mischievous and a failed calculated attempt to undermine our genuine efforts to upgrade the environmental condition of the market for the health and wellbeing of our people.
“It would be recalled that our Council, in view of the reality of the Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) pandemic and in furtherance of its commitment to enthrone basic standard hygiene in the market and its environs, on March 24, 2020, shut down the Tomato section of Akwatta in Ogbete Main Market, Enugu, before the general closure of the entire market.
“Consequently, we have temporarily relocated the traders of the Tomato market in Akwatta to Garki Market, Enugu, to enable the Council rebuild the section of the Ogbete Main Market to standard before they return to the market to continue their business transactions.
“The administrative process for the reconstruction of the Akwatta Market is ongoing and we wish to reiterate that the project is dear to us and receiving urgent attention.
“I therefore restate that the government did not sell Akwatta Market to anybody or company as is mischievously being peddled,” Hon. Emeka Onunze, Executive Chairman, Enugu North Local Government Area.
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