Emma Elekwa
Leadership of Onitsha main market on Tuesday said it has agreed to meet with Governor Chukwuma Soludo on solidarity plea to rescind his decision on closure of the market.
Chairman of the market, Chief Chijioke Okpalaugo said the decision was reached during a closed door meeting held at the market Secretariat.
Soludo had shortly after his unscheduled visit to the market on Monday ordered its closure following traders’ continuous observance of Monday sit-at-home.
Addressing newsmen shortly after the meeting, Okpalaugo explained that a letter has been written to that effect.
He said, “We have just finished the meeting now. We are going to see the governor, and appeal to him for forgiveness.
“We will appeal to him to consider reopening the markets because we are losing what we are supposed to be getting due to Monday sit-at-home.
“Soludo is a progressive minded governor. He loves his people, his decision is a nice one and timely because he took it at the right time.
“His decision was to push us to stop observing the Monday sit-at-home exercise and he has done that. We urge him to reopen the market before next week Monday.”
Okpalaugo however noted that some individuals attempted to hijack the situation by embarking on illegal protest.
“I am not aware of any protest they said was going on against the closure of the markets, those are miscreants.
“Government officials came to us earlier, last Monday and told us to reopen or the markets will be shut, and the governor has shut the Main Market and other adjoining markets,” he stated.
The meeting was well attended by executives of the concerned markets and stakeholders who were optimistic that the governor would give them listening ear.
