Aggrieved traders at the popular Ogbogwu Drug Market in Onitsha, Anambra State, have renewed calls for the removal of the market’s caretaker committee chairman, Mr Ndubuisi Chukwuleta, and the conduct of an election to usher in a democratically elected executive.

The demand followed last Wednesday’s shooting incident involving some traders and policemen at the Onitsha Bridgehead, where several persons were reportedly injured.

The incident occurred when some armed policemen in mufti allegedly opened fire on traders they suspected were carrying a bag containing unregistered drugs purchased from the Ogbogwu market.

The shooting reportedly sparked tension among traders and passers-by and nearly degenerated into a protest before the intervention of the Anambra State Commissioner of Police, CP Nnanna Oji Ama.

Ama, who visited the scene and the hospitals where some of the injured victims were receiving treatment, ordered a comprehensive and impartial investigation into the circumstances surrounding the incident.

He also reportedly promised to settle the medical bills of the victims.

The Commissioner expressed disappointment with some police Area Commanders and Divisional Police Officers over their alleged failure to properly control their subordinates and ensure compliance with police rules of engagement.

At White Chapel Hospital, Fegge, Onitsha, where two of the injured persons were receiving treatment, one of the victims, Mr Obiora Nweke, said he was not the person carrying the bag of drugs allegedly being sought by the policemen.

Nweke, a native of Anaku in Ayamelum Local Government Area of the state, said he worked as a loader around the Ogbogwu market.

According to him, he was loading a vehicle when he heard a commotion around the Bridgehead end of the Enugu-Onitsha Expressway and went to find out what was happening.

He said he saw a man inside a drainage channel arguing with some persons, whom he did not initially know were policemen in mufti.

Nweke said one of the policemen suddenly pulled out a firearm and shot him in the leg.

He said he initially thought the gunshot had been fired into the ground but later realised he had been hit after severe pain set in, causing him to collapse.

Nweke said he regained consciousness at the hospital, where he saw the police commissioner at his bedside.

He explained that the Commissioner authorised the hospital to commence full treatment after the facility had initially provided first aid and requested police authorisation before treating him for a gunshot injury.

Another victim, Prince Friday Osisi, who sustained an injury to his forehead and underwent surgery, said he was hit by a stone allegedly thrown at the policemen by angry traders shortly after the shooting.

Osisi, a trader at Ogbogwu market and Public Relations Officer of Virtues for Ogbogwu Market Traders Association, said he had alerted the state Police Public Relations Officer, SP Tochukwu Ikenga, about the incident.

He said by the time the police commissioner, Ikenga, the Onitsha Area Commander and other senior officers arrived at the hospital, he was already undergoing surgery.

Osisi alleged that the caretaker committee chairman had failed to adequately protect the interests of traders in the market.

He called on the state government to dissolve the caretaker arrangement and conduct an election to usher in an elected market leadership.

“From my own last count, no fewer than seven persons were shot by those policemen on mufti, and the victims are currently lying in various hospitals,” he said.

“Our caretaker committee chairman, Chukwuleta, who has incidentally spent over four years in office, is not protecting the interests of the traders but working against them.

“I am therefore calling on the state government to remove Chukwuleta from office, dissolve the caretaker system in Ogbogwu market and conduct an election that will usher in an elected leadership.”

Also speaking, the leader of Virtues for Ogbogwu Market Traders Association, Chibeze Ifejiofor, who visited Osisi at the hospital, called on Governor Chukwuma Soludo and the Commissioner for Industry, Trade and Investment, Mr Nonso Ebonwu, to remove Chukwuleta and organise an election.

Ifejiofor, also known as Chibeze Adamu, alleged that traders had experienced several challenges under the caretaker arrangement.

“We traders at Ogbogwu market have suffered a lot of problems with Chukwuleta. Last year, it was NAFDAC that came and closed the market for upward of two months and looted many shops, claiming that they found unregistered drugs,” he alleged.

He appealed to the government to conduct the long-awaited election, saying traders had resolved since last year to elect a substantive executive.

According to him, the traders were asked to wait until after the November 2025 governorship election in the state.

He said the election had since been concluded, but the market leadership poll had yet to take place.

“We want government to conduct it as soon as possible, preferably by September or October this year,” he said.

Meanwhile, one of the medical experts at White Chapel Hospital, Dr Celestine Orji, said the conditions of the two injured victims had stabilised.

He added that there was no fracture of the bone or extraction of pellets from Nweke’s leg.

The hospital’s administrative officer, Mrs Ezechukwu, said the medical bills of the two patients had been prepared and issued to them for onward submission to the police commissioner, who had promised to assist with the expenses.

When contacted, Chukwuleta declined to comment on the allegations, saying the incident had nothing to do with Ogbogwu market or its bona fide members because it occurred outside the market. (Vanguard)

Update news