Crisis has hit the GSM Village Traders Association, Enugu following a botched election into the leadership of the association.

The election, which was supposed to have taken place in November 2023, was said to have been cancelled over disagreement among the contestants into the leadership of the market.

According to the chairman electoral committee, Mr. Marcel Iloghalu, since the cancelation of the polls, the former chairman of the market and one of the contestants in the election, Mr. Ikenegbu Kenechukwu, had been using the police to hound him after he failed to do his bidding to install him for second term.

Speaking with newsmen in Enugu at the weekend, Iloghalu appealed to Governor Peter Mbah and the Commissioner of Police to save him from untimely death over the election.

“After he appointed me as the chairman of the electoral committee to conduct the election last October, the former chairman and his group started calling me to swing the election in their favour.

“They were pushing me to disqualify the other chairmanship candidate to enable the former chairman win unopposed. But I refused and told them that everyone would be given the opportunity to contest”, he said.

This development, he said, made them to demand back the money they paid for forms despite knowing that the money paid for forms was non-refundable.

He also disclosed that the group also made a failed attempt to use the Enugu North LGA to remove him as the electoral committee chairman, a development he disclosed was being challenged in court by the union members.

“Since then, they have been using the divisional police officer of the New Heaven police station and his men to chase me around and even threatened my life.

“I no longer go to my shop because of their threats. I got information that they want to take me to a magistrate court on a trumped up charge of advance fee fraud in order to put me in prison just to enable them have their way.

“They have invited me to the police on several occasions. Just two days ago on Thursday at the court, they brought policemen from New Heaven police station to arrest me.

“In the process of that scuffle, I fell down and hit my head on the tarred court premises, thereby passing out. I got myself several hours later in the police hospital where I was eventually revived.

“So, in view of all these troubles, I’m appealing to the state commissioner of police to call his men, especially the DPO New Heaven police station, to order. I did not offend anybody.

“I also appeal for the state government intervention. My life is under threat. I can no longer do my business in peace”, he said.

The former chairman of the market, Ikenegbu Kenechukwu, dismissed the allegations as frivolous, saying Iloghalu’s committee was dissolved by the local government, which directed him to handover every file and money to the new electoral committee appointed by the council to take charge of the election.

“Since then, he held on to the money and refused to hand over as he was directed to do by the local government authorities. He later started transferring the money back to the individuals instead of as directed.

“He was the person that dragged us to the same local government area and the police. But, after listening to his story, they asked him to quit. Already he was biased and was having meeting with our opponents,” Ikenegbu said. (The Nation)

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