No fewer than 150 shops have been marked for demolition in Onitsha, the commercial hub of Anambra State.
The special duties adviser to Onitsha South local government chairman, P. Onuachala, in a letter signed and dated June 15, said the structures were constructed on unapproved areas along the drainage channel.
He said in a letter titled “Final notice to remove shops at Progress Market Extension, near Haruna Street, Odoakpu Onitsha”, which is also obstructing road construction going on in the area.
The traders in the area were given 48 hours to dismantle the shops to save their goods and materials from demolition/enforcement action.
But traders at Progress Market Extension Haruna–Niger and Ifejika Streets, Odoakpu, Onitsha have threatened to battle the council chairman, Emeka Orji, for the demolition directive.
The traders replied to the letter through their lawyers, Ikenna Egbuna, and C.M. Obijagwa.
But Orji, the council chairman, said that the traders were making empty threats, adding that they have been warned to remove their goods before the demolition.
“These are shops built on water channel and it is also disturbing the reconstruction of roads embarked upon by the Anambra State government”
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“The traders know very well that those shops are on the major road and some of them have blocked the drainage constructed when those roads were built. The state government has zero tolerance for lawlessness and would not accept this act of illegality and rascality by any person or group of persons,” said.
