Anambra: We’ll Continue to Inspect, Shut Shops of Traders Who Fail to Open on Mondays

David-Chyddy Eleke in Awka

Anambra State Government has said it will not relent in inspecting markets on Mondays, to ensure that they are open and traders also open their shops for business.

The Commissioner for Information in the state, Dr. Law Mefor, stated this when THISDAY sought reaction to allegations that shops were shut down in Onitsha Main Market last Monday because the traders failed to open for business.

Mefor said: “There is no record of any shop being shut down in Onitsha Main Market as a result of not opening for business on Monday.

“What I know is that some shops were shut down in Bridgehead Market, Onitsha, and I want to state that we will never relent. Every Monday we will continue to inspect the market and close down any shop that the owner fails to open for business.”

Meanwhile, separatist proscribed group, Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), had alleged that the state government under Governor Chukwuma Soludo had shut shops in Onitsha Main Market, describing it as deeply troubling, reckless and authoritarian.

In a press release by its spokesperson, Emma Powerful, the group said: “Governor Soludo, as an economist and self-professed intellectual, should understand basic human behaviour.

“Societal patterns and public responses do not change at the snap of a finger simply because a governor issues threats from a podium or moves around with a long convoy. People are not automatons. They are citizens with fears, experiences and memories of past injustices.

“To seal the shops of hardworking traders because they did not open on a particular day is not governance; it is collective punishment. Even under a simple landlord-tenant relationship, a landlord cannot lawfully lock out a tenant for not sleeping in the house on a particular day.

“Such an act would amount to unlawful eviction. How then can a governor, who is merely a trustee of public authority, attempt to seal shops belonging to citizens who have committed no crime?”

It advised Soludo to immediately reverse the action and unseal all affected shops., saying leadership was not about issuing threats or demonstrating force against one’s own people, but about patience, persuasion, justice and respect for the rights and dignity of citizens.