Traders Call for Review of Ekeoha Shopping Centre Remodeling Contract

Traders at the Ekeoha Shopping Centre, Aba, Abia, have called on Gov. Alex Otti to review the contract of the company handling Ekeoha remodeling contract.

The traders made the call on Monday while speaking to newsmen on long delays plaguing the remodeling effort.

The traders spoke through the Grand Patron of Ekeoha Shopping Centre, Chief Berth Madubuko who alleged that the company has no funds to handle a huge remodeling contract.

Madubuko said the company accused him of meddlesomeness because he wanted them to follow the plans of the governor on the project which they had abandoned.

He said Rhino Homes has no funds to execute the remodeling contract hence their focus on demolition of old shops and collection of iron doors and rods for selling.

He said the company was extorting traders through various means including asking traders to pay N10 million to them as against N6 million which is what traders agreed on earlier to pay through government.

“While that one was going on, Rhino Homes introduced another means of extorting money by telling people to submit forms and pay N50, 000 for screening the forms.

“I made much noise about this one by going on air and when the governor heard this, he immediately asked that that dubiety should be stopped and the N50,000 refunded to the persons who paid.

“But till now, not one person who paid that N50,000 screening fee has been refunded but Rhino Homes kept creating the impression that the concerned persons have been refunded.” He said.

He said the examples he gave had shown the level of dubiousness and unpreparedness of the company to handle such huge project especially when displaced traders were idling away in the market.

L- R. The Grand Patron of Ekeoha Shopping Centre, Chief Berth Madubuko, Mathew Chinyere, Innocent Anosike, the Mayor of Ekeoha Shopping Centre and Augustine Okeke, the former Assistant Secretary, Ekeoha Shopping Centre, who jointly briefed newsmen in Aba on Monday.

Madubuko also said that the company hurriedly signed a Memorandum of Agreement (MoA) without the traders real representatives in order to shortchange them.

He said the company had played games with the Ekeoha traders and that his sin against the company was asking them to follow due processes.

Madubuko said the company promised to execute the demolition and rebuilding in six phases but had gone on a demolition spree while failing to keep their promise.

He also said they promised the relocation of displaced traders to temporary shops pending completion of reconstruction but only relocated less than 10 per cent of traders displaced.

The traders Spokesman said the company had broken every agreement made by the tripartite Project Management Committee the governor established and refused to follow remodeling plans.

Madubuko said the tripartite committee comprised seven members of the Ekeoha traders, representatives of Rhino Homes ltd, and Ministry of Trade and Commerce.

He had noted the allegations levied against him by the company but will respond to them soon if they don’t apologize.

“There is no way at my level, I can condescend to that level of going to ask Rhino Homes to give me a place where I would now go and build.

“The fact remains that I don’t even know the CEO of Rhino Homes who I have only met once in Umuahia on the day I described him as another JimBass who wants to manipulate the traders and everybody laughed”, he said.

“I wonder who I will go to discuss such things with? Is it the boys he kept at the site who are his paid staff?

“I want to assure you that I am not idle.
He who alleges, has to prove; I have spoken to my Lawyers and at the appropriate time, if Rhino Homes did not apologize for that malicious statement they made against me, they will face a libel suit,” he said.

Report by Ijendu Iheaka