Elected Leaders Takeover Orba Modern Market After Court Nullified Govt- Appointed Caretaker Committee
The elected leaders of Orba Modern Market have been reinstated following the dissolution of the state - government appointed caretaker committee by an Enugu High court.
The elected leaders of Orba Modern Market have been reinstated following the dissolution of the state - government appointed caretaker committee by an Enugu High court.
The elected leaders took over the administration of the over market constructed with the assistance of the World Bank/ UNDP during the Dr Okwesilieze Nwodo's administration in the early nineties.
The return of the elected leaders was marked with a unification church service inside the market on Saturday, November 15.
The Catholic Priest incharge of Orba Parish, Rev Father Eze, who conducted the service urged the traders to live in peace and carry out their trading activities honestly as God would always bless those who make genuine efforts to improve their lives.
Peace had eluded the market traders for one year and seven months of official missteps by the Enugu State government but the situation finally changed for the better for the over 3000 -shop Orba Modern Market in Udenu Local Government Area of the state.
Peace had eluded the market traders for one year and seven months of official missteps by the Enugu State government but the situation finally changed for the better for the over 3000 -shop Orba Modern Market in Udenu Local Government Area of the state.
According to the traders, the crisis occasioned by a leadership crisis spurred what they described as “the illegal dissolution of Orba Modern Market Traders Association, OMMTA, forcible takeover of the affairs of OMMTA, unlawful usurpation of the powers and privileges of OMMTA, and unconstitutional interference with the rights of OMMTA” by the agents of both the local and state governments, who had earlier falsified the share holdings in the market at the Corporate Affairs Commission, CAC.
In collective and individual pledges shortly after an open air reconciliation Mass at the market loading bay, members of the newly reinstated OMMATA led by Brendan Ugwu-and their disbanded Caretaker Committee counterparts, recommitted to providing just, fair and peaceful leadership in the market as well as to according loyalty and respect to constituted authorities.
Furthermore, they also vowed to work and confront all future challenges together, adding that henceforth, lessons from the crisis that erupted would teach everyone lessons and guide the conduct of the affairs of the Association towards a more productive and mutually-benefitting market leadership.
In collective and individual pledges shortly after an open air reconciliation Mass at the market loading bay, members of the newly reinstated OMMATA led by Brendan Ugwu-and their disbanded Caretaker Committee counterparts, recommitted to providing just, fair and peaceful leadership in the market as well as to according loyalty and respect to constituted authorities.
Furthermore, they also vowed to work and confront all future challenges together, adding that henceforth, lessons from the crisis that erupted would teach everyone lessons and guide the conduct of the affairs of the Association towards a more productive and mutually-benefitting market leadership.
Trouble started in and for the World/UNDP/government/
It was gathered that Ugwu and his executives “were elected...in 2023 for a four-year tenure and their tenure was still subsisting but an issue arose when (some agents of the local and state governments) stepped into the market’s administrative structure and directing that the executives duly elected in 2023 be dissolved and cease to exist.”
It was also noted that the said government agents “went on to set up a Caretaker Committee to see to the affairs of the market on December 24, 2024,” whereupon “members of the committee were inaugurated and ordered to function,” but the purportedly ousted executives wrote to the authority about the incident, highlighting the apparent abuse of powers and the need to make a restitution by restoring the elected executives whose tenure has not ended as well as the dissolution of the Caretaker Committee.
Following the non- consideration of elected leaders position the purportedly ousted executive went to court and succeeded in obtaining a restraining order and interlocutory injunction stopping the constitution of a Caretaker Committee.”
It was also gathered that the government agents’ (officials of Udenu Local government and State Ministry of Trade and Investment) refusal to abide by the above ruling of court, and decision to go ahead instead and inaugurate the Caretaker Committee in total defiance of the court order, was to lead to a flurry of lawsuits, counter lawsuits and acts of executive lawlessness that characterized the one-year-and-seven- month stalemated OMMTA market leadership, even as
reason finally prevailed after the government’s party, including the Caretaker Committee and local and state governments’ officials, reached a dead end following the court of appeal’s rejection of their quest for an order restraining the execution of the high court ruling declaring the Caretaker Committee illegal.
However, according to OMMTA sources, subsequently the Chairman of Udenu Local Government Area, Hon. Aka Eze Aka, was said to have summoned the warring parties to a meeting in his office at Obollo-Afor on November 5, 2025, to seek a way out of the OMMTA stalemate.
reason finally prevailed after the government’s party, including the Caretaker Committee and local and state governments’ officials, reached a dead end following the court of appeal’s rejection of their quest for an order restraining the execution of the high court ruling declaring the Caretaker Committee illegal.
However, according to OMMTA sources, subsequently the Chairman of Udenu Local Government Area, Hon. Aka Eze Aka, was said to have summoned the warring parties to a meeting in his office at Obollo-Afor on November 5, 2025, to seek a way out of the OMMTA stalemate.
It was gathered that at the meeting, Hon. Aka Eze directed that the OMMTA office hitherto taken over and occupied by the Caretaker Committee be handed back to the Brendan Ugwu-led elected Executive to continue from where they stopped.
When the Ugwu-led elected Executive sought clarification, they were assured by the local government chairman that Udenu had withdrawn its support to the former Caretaker Committee and that its members would from then on be loyal to the elected OMMTA leadership.
Aka Eze was said to have immediately mandated a joint team of the elected Executive and members of the Caretaker Committee to drive back to Orba Modern Market and open the OMMTA office for Ugwu and his team to gain access.
Expressing his gratitude to the traders for their support while the crisis lasted, and to the local and State government governments for brokering peace in the market, OMMTA Ugwu, who spoke at the Open Air Mass, pledged to lead with the fear of God, and commitment to the welfare of traders and economic prosperity of the Orba community, Udenu LGA and Enugu State through the oft-voluminous commercial activities in the market, for the remainder of his tenure.
He appealed to those who might have been offended, one way or another, by his style of administration and or his decisions prior to or during the crippling crisis, to forgive him, assuring that, going forward, he and his team would take their concerns into consideration in arriving at all future decisions.
When the Ugwu-led elected Executive sought clarification, they were assured by the local government chairman that Udenu had withdrawn its support to the former Caretaker Committee and that its members would from then on be loyal to the elected OMMTA leadership.
Aka Eze was said to have immediately mandated a joint team of the elected Executive and members of the Caretaker Committee to drive back to Orba Modern Market and open the OMMTA office for Ugwu and his team to gain access.
Expressing his gratitude to the traders for their support while the crisis lasted, and to the local and State government governments for brokering peace in the market, OMMTA Ugwu, who spoke at the Open Air Mass, pledged to lead with the fear of God, and commitment to the welfare of traders and economic prosperity of the Orba community, Udenu LGA and Enugu State through the oft-voluminous commercial activities in the market, for the remainder of his tenure.
He appealed to those who might have been offended, one way or another, by his style of administration and or his decisions prior to or during the crippling crisis, to forgive him, assuring that, going forward, he and his team would take their concerns into consideration in arriving at all future decisions.
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