RAYMOND OZOJI reports
Anambra-born billionaire business mogul, High Chief Hamilton Emeka Ezeonu (Ikemba Idemili ) has assured victims of road construction demolitions in Nnobi community of Idemili-South Local Government Area that Governor Charles Chukwuma Soludo will address the blight cast on them due to the demolitions.
Ezeonu who had an expansive and elaborate engagement with families whose houses and shops were demolished, in his Awuda palatial country home mansion in Nnobi, told his people that stakeholders have met with the governor and the governor has assured them that as soon as they provided land for the construction of a new market, government will respond with immediate alacrity.
The billionaire industrialist said he saw the horrible videos of the demolitions and was empathetic; wondering how they would survive with their houses and means of livelihoods destroyed before their very eyes, adding that it was their plight that prompted him to galvanise other stakeholders from Nnobi to see the governor for solutions to their present predicaments.
According to Ezeonu, Governor Soludo said that a two-year notice had been given to Afor-Nnobi market traders through the former President-General to vacate the place because it would be pulled down and that they should provide a land for a new market to be built but all to avail as government kept reminding them about the land without success.
Ezeonu who said it was rather unfortunate that their houses and shops were demolished, also disclosed that Governor Soludo hinted that government would build houses for the women whose houses were affected by the demolitions. That the people should provide lands for the houses to be built but none has been provided, emphasizing that it was time they began to hold their village chairmen and the President-General accountable for the offices they occupy on their behalf.
Ikemba Idemili therefore stressed that they were not abandoned in this trying times as he and his wife Thelma Ezeonu would create a N10 Million Support Fund to assist them in their new location as soon as the market is built to enable them have a fresh new beginning.
He assured them that he would personally not stop asking government to expedite actions in building the new market until it is eventually built and they all relocate to the new site even as he urged them to begin to hold their leaders accountable and confront them with questions on why construction of the new Afor-Nnobi market is being delayed.
Ezeonu revealed that Governor Charles Chukwuma Soludo gave Nnobi community three months to provide land for construction of the new market but nothing has been done yet, noting that the governor is no longer to be blamed because he has asked the community to show him a piece of land for construction of the new Afor-Nnobi market.
Mrs. Anthonia Ugoigwe, one of the victims of the road construction demolition in Nnobi, who hails from Awuda, told this journalist that her only shop was demolished and that her family is currently languishing in abject penury and squalor as they apparently have nothing to fall back on.
Mrs. Ugoigwe who benefitted from the food and cash palliatives Ezeonu doled out, urged government to salvage their situation and ameliorate their sufferings with construction of the market to enable them work and fend for their families again.
Another victim of the demolition at Afor Nnobi, who identified herself as Esther Ikechukwu an indigene of Ebonyi state whose fashion shop was demolished, told this journalist that she has nothing to live for again as her only source of livelihood has been destroyed by the powers that be.
She however expressed profound gratitude to High Chief Hamilton Emeka Ezeonu and his wife for wiping tears from their eyes and making them smile again with words of encouragements and gifts as succour from the catastrophe that befell them.
Adachukwu Okoye from Ngo Nnobi, described Ezeonu's food and cash interventions as timely because she was in dire need of such help due to her misfortune at the ill-fated Afor-Nnobi community market. She said she deals in traditional medicines but since her shop was demolished, it has been really tough for her and her family as they now depend on external help to be able to feed themselves and pay children school fees.
Another beneficiary of High Chief Hamilton Emeka Ezeonu's food and cash palliatives, Blessing Williams, said it has not been easy for her since her shop where she sells hot drinks at Afor-Nnobi market was demolished. She said her hope was rekindle with the promise made by the state government to alleviate their sufferings with the construction of a new market, stressing that Ikemba Idemili has been a pillar of support to them since their shops were demolished.
Meanwhile Chairman of the Nnobi Amalgamated Market Traders Association, Mr. Nnaemeka Christian Okoronkwo, said that those who were affected by the road construction demolitions were currently homeless while others lost their means of livelihoods to the demolitions.
He said that the food and cash palliatives doled out by Ikemba Idemili to the victims was timely in the present circumstance because the people are really suffering the pains and excruciating experience of the demolitions.
Commercial cyclists (Okada riders) operating in Nnobi and its environs were not left out in the distribution of largese as they all got safety helmets and reflective jackets for protection from unforseen contingencies in the course of their operations as Chairman of the Nnobi Okada Riders, Mr. Ikechukwu Paul Okpaladim, noted that Ikemba Idemili has been generous to them especially with the provision of safety kits to enable them stay alive for their respective families.
The Nnobi Okada riders' chairman who commended High Chief Hamilton Emeka Ezeonu for his numerous philanthropic gestures; the outgone Idemili-South Local Government Chairman Hon. Dr. Mrs. Amaka Obi and the newly inaugurated Mayor and Chairman of Idemili-South Local Government Area Hon. Oluchukwu John Ilogbenu for their giant strides in Idemili-South, equally lauded Governor Charles Chukwuma Soludo's resolve to build a new market for Nnobi community.
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