- Market Union Accuses Makurdi LG Caretaker Boss of Interference
By Amos Aar
THERE was palpable tension Tuesday at the Wurukum Market located in the heart of Makurdi, the Benue State capital, over the suspension of the inauguration of the elected chairman of the market union following alleged directive of the caretaker chairman of Makurdi LGA.
The Wurukum Market branch of the Makurdi Traders Union (MTU) had on Friday, July 12, 2024, conducted elections into various positions, with clear winners announced at the end of the process. The Wurukum Market election held two days after a similar exercise was conducted at the Wadata Market branch.
However, when newly elected officials of MTU in other markets were being sworn in on Tuesday, July 16, 2024, that of Wurukum Market, Mr Terkimbi Ornguga, who scored 741 votes to floor his closest rival with 188 votes at the election was not inaugurated on the ground that there was a petition against him by an aspirant who withdrew from the race at the point of voting.
The petitioner, Clement Iorchir, according to sources at the meeting, alleged that he withdrew from the chairmanship election at gunpoint.
Contrary to Iorchir’s allegation, National Record obtained a video clip recorded prior to the July 12 election showing Iorchir withdrawing from the election on the ground that the process was not going according pre-arranged zoning process.
In the video clip, Iorchir said: “I’m one of the chairmanship aspirants and I asked for a due process for my own case because I am favoured by zoning. But since that arrangement has been dismissed, I have decided to withdraw my participation from this election”.
Aggrieved sources from the Wurukum Market, who were at the swearing-in ceremony of the elected MTU officials on Tuesday in Makurdi, but did not want their names mentioned, blamed the caretaker committee chairman of Makurdi LGA, Hon. James Dwem, for stopping Ornguga’s inauguration for ‘personal interest’.
They alleged that the Wurukum Market elections were supposed to hold on July 11, 2024 but postponed because the caretaker chairman insisted on zoning against the wishes of the majority of voters and market officials.
When the traders converged at the market the next day, July 12, 2024 to exercise their franchise, the issue of zoning came up again, that the chairman had given directives to that effect. As a result, the MTU leadership and some members marched to Makurdi local government secretariat for a meeting with the caretaker chairman.
National Record gathered that during the closed-door meeting with Hon. Dwem, voices of the majority superseded the few who opted for zoning.
Those against zoning were said to have argued that although zoning was the practice in the past, it was not the yardstick in this current dispensation because it was not considered in Wadata Market where the elections were first conducted, hence a similar procedure was said to have been adopted in line with Governor Alia’s administrative policy of allowing the masses to elect their preferred popular candidates at elections.
This resolve, our correspondent gathered, was overwhelmingly supported by MTU members as there was popular feeling that the zoning arrangement was intended to impose an unpopular candidate on the market.
When contacted on phone to react to the allegations leveled against him, the caretaker chairman of Makurdi local government, Hon. James Dwem, distanced himself from the swearing-in ceremony of the markets’ leaders on Tuesday, saying it was performed by the MTU chairman, Mr Thaddeus Anliagh.
“I did not swear them in and I was not there. Call the chairman of Traders Union who swore them in to give you clarifications”, Dwem dissociated himself from the swearing in.
However, when contacted, the MTU chairman, Mr Anliagh, said the caretaker chairman, Hon. James Dwem, had instructed him not to swear in Terkimbi Ornguga (a.k.a.) Mosbi, because there was a petition against him, and that, he acted on the caretaker chairman’s directives.
“Chairman said a petition has been sent to his office. So, we should give him time to study the petition before he would direct us on the next line of action”, Anliagh stressed.
Asked what was the content of the petition, Comrade Anliagh said it was not revealed to him.
