Military Siege: Traders Protest as Market, Shops Remain Shut at Ngwa Road, Aba

Emmanuel Ugwu-Nwogo in Umuahia

Traders from one of the several markets in Aba Tuesday staged a protest at the Government House, Umuahia, over “military siege” that has grounded business activities at Ngwa Road Market.

The traders under the umbrella of Ngwa Road Traders Association came with placards to express their grievances to Governor Alex Otti, seeking his intervention to save them and their families from hunger.

Some of the inscriptions on the placards read: ‘We are Hungry, Our Shops Have Been Locked Up by Soldiers’; ‘We are Tired of Staying at Home, We Need Your Help’; ‘We are Under Military Siege at Ngwa Road’.

Spokesman of the association, Ikenna Ohanaba, said that commercial activities had been grounded at the Ngwa Road market area of Aba since May 30 when five soldiers were killed by gunmen at Obikabia junction.

He said that traders doing business at Ngwa Road and its environs had nothing to do with the ugly incident that occurred at Obikabia junction in Obingwa Local Government Area which is far from Ngwa Road.

“We are traders and we have families. If we don’t engage in our businesses, we will starve,” he lamented.

According to Ohanaba, who is also the secretary of the traders association, over fifty shops, two shopping plazas and business premises, were affected in the military siege.

Special Adviser to the Abia State Governor on Trade, Commerce and Industry, Chief Nwaka Inem, who addressed the traders thanked them for registering their grievances in a peaceful manner.

He said that the “increased military alertness” has become necessary following the killing of five soldiers on May 30, adding that, “we’re in an abnormal situation”.

Inem assured the frustrated traders that the security situation would be reviewed in due course and things would return to normalcy.

He said that security of lives and properties should not be left only in the hands of security agencies, adding that everybody was expected to contribute and even make sacrifices for security to reign.

The SA on trade gave assurance that government was doing everything possible to ensure that the criminal elements behind the killing of soldiers were caught and made to face the music.

He urged traders and all Abia residents to join in efforts “to get criminals out of the system” by providing credible information to government and security agencies.