Umuaka News24

Umuaka News24 Had an Exclusive interview with The Chief Sponsor of the Market reconstruction. Below are His responses.


*Umuaka News24* Good evening sir, please may we know you?
*Pharm. Eze Mike Nnaka* Good evening Reporters of Umuaka News24,
I am Pharm Eze Mike Nnaka, from Achara Umuaka residing in Lagos Nigeria.

*Umuaka News24:* Sir, Please can you tell us how this Market modernization started and your role in the development?

*Pharm. Eze Mike Nnaka*
Okay. I am happy to grant this interview to clear some lies and let Ndi Umuaka know the truth. My name has been mentioned wrongly and several times without true facts and in most cases without my permission.

This Market issue started some years back when Sen. Rochas Okorocha was the Governor of Imo State. He  created 7 cities in Imo state, of which Umuaka was one of them.

He then Appointed A Mayor, Mrs Obiefule for Umuaka who wanted to redevelop AFOR UMUAKA and modernise it but Some people refused and threatened her and her team.

She ran away and some buildings were being demolished. Everything was brought to standstill and the project abandoned.
The news got to the Governor then and he summoned Umuaka stakeholders to his office in Government house Owerri. At the government house, I believe there may be some people that will see this interview here,  that were there that day at the government house Owerri.
It so happened that one of our Honourables Called Eme was present in that meeting that day and helped to broker peace arrangement in that meeting.

Honourable Eme later called me on phone while I was away, out of the country, and highlighted my proposed arrangement to help in developing the market and recover my money thereafter without profit.

He asked me if that was my position and what I can do? Assisting in building the shops at no profit and recovering my money after construction in order to help in stopping the fighting parties so that our community can develop.
I told him yes that I would be ready to assist my community in development but the market situation was difficult to come in due to the fighting that’s happening.

He assured me that if I was really interested in coming in to finance the project, that they will dialogue with the warring factions and bring everyone to understanding.

I then accepted,. He spoke with the Governor and got back to me and requested that I prepare for the development of the market.

I came back to the Village, Chief Uzoma Achazie and Bar. Philip came to my house to ask me to come in and Assist in the redevelopment of the market. He told me that he was the Chairman of the Shop owners association. I told them that I would think about it
Honourable Bon Nnaka called me after I had left village and said that he wanted to come to my house in Lagos with Barrister Eme and Mrs. Obiefuna who was the Mayor of Akah City and asked if I would be available, which I answered yes.

The three individuals came to visit me and stated that the reason they came was about the Afor Umuaka redevelopment project.
They requested that I assist with financing the project and that my money would be returned after the shops are built and sold. I told them that it’s something I can do, provided that the fightings regarding the market had stopped.

When I returned to the village, Mrs. Obiefuna, the Akah Mayor, informed me that the governor wanted to see me. I then went with her to the government house to see the governor.
After the meeting with the governor and I tried to proceed with the market development, I felt that I did not have time for that, so I involved three people to work with Mrs. Obiefuna on the project. I requested that a bank account should be opened for me to deposit the money for the work.

I thought that the three individuals may not be enough for the job required, then I remembered that Philip and Uzoma Achazie had also come to me for that market project so I added them to the team, together with His Royal Highness Eze Ojinnaka after speaking with him on the phone.
As part of the expansion of the team Raf Nnaji (alias Apolo) was also included. One person from Umuele was also included but complaints came in that the person is controversial in nature, so the individual was removed and replaced with Chief Celestine Agu from Obinwanne who was recommended.

I took the phone numbers of all those people and called to invite them to my house for a meeting.

At my house, I disclosed to them the plan and also provided the architectural drawing for the project which I had contracted someone to sketch.

The plan looked attractive and a bank account was opened for me to transfer the fund for work to begin. I paid in some money from my company’s account and asked them to commence work. That was the first stage of the process.

When work started, everything was proceeding according to plan but at some point, I noticed that accountability was becoming an issue.
I called Architect Tony Duruojiaku from Uba to join the committee so that I can monitor how money was being spent.

One or two months after Tony had joined the committee, he also became frustrated because he too was not understanding what was happening and left.
When Tony left, the committee continued with their work. I discovered that there were underhand dealings going on that involved discreetly selling shops and taking the money to build more blocks.

This was going on while they were still taking money from my side.
People started complaining to me and even some members of the committee, like Apolo, dropped out. At the time, Bon Nnaka had moved on to become the TC Chairman of Njaba LGA.
Only few members of the committee were remaining, about three or four. This continued until I got tired of the entire crooked behaviour and demanded for my money to be returned.

Even to collect back my money was discovered to be impossible, because there’s no money to collect. They were using the money they got from selling shops to start building new shops.

I had to go to Owerri to meet with the governor about the issue and the governor asked me to be patient, that he will find out how the people can pay back my money but unfortunately, even the governor didn’t do anything.

I then went to Eze Ojinnaka to ask him how an old person like him will allow my money to be stuck. I told him that since the front blocks were already constructed, that I was not interested in the back blocks and do not want to continue further with the entire arrangement. Eze Ojinnaka said that he would speak with the Mayor about the issue.
To recover my money, I had to take a full building block and half, covering the value of my funds that was used for the project, because they could not pay me.

*Umuaka News24:* Do you know some partners that invested heavily in the project that Mr. Uzoma Achazie is trying to conceal?

*Pharm Eze Mike Nnaka:* As regards to finance, that some people financed the project, there was nothing like that. All the other people were just individuals that money for shops were collected from upfront. If you’re building a house and ask people to pay, that you will give them flats when the building is completed, it’s not proper to call such individuals financiers.

Someone saying that there were many financiers, that some don’t want to be named, is simply lying.

*Umuaka News24:* Was the appointment of the Afor Umuaka Reconstruction Committee based on community representation or limited to select individuals?

*Pharm Eze Mike Nnaka* Regarding the question of if the building committee was set up according to community representation, that was not the criterion.
The problem was that I am not based in the village. If I were residing in Owerri, for instance, I wouldn’t have appointed any committee and could’ve done it alone because the intention was to build it without making any profit out of it.
After all, some people actually called me from abroad to take part in the project but when they learnt that there was no profit attached to it, they lost interest.

Even the shops that I took as the payment for my money were at the value of the selling price, which was 780,000 Naira each at the time, and was also what the shops were being sold to other people. There was no discount given to me even though the actual cost of building the shops were about 200,000 Naira.
The design was that there would be space in market, positions for banks, provision for fire service station, but all those plans were distorted. Certain individuals distorted everything and started selling up and down.

At the time the market was being built, Uzoma Achazie came to my house in Lagos with a file to show me how far they had gone. I asked him to go home with the file, that I will check it at the end of the construction. After Uzoma left my house that day, that was the last time I got any update on that till today.

The cost of the buildings, I didn’t see. The money realised, I didn’t see. Whether there was profit or loss, I didn’t see. Till today.

*Umuaka News24:* What do you think needs to be done to resolve the tensions and issues still raging from that market and settle the aggrieved parties?

*Pharm Eze Mike Nnaka:* To resolve the tensions that is mounting in that market is to give people whose shops were taken back their shops.
Like Amiyi, someone must have sold their shops.
If their allocations were available for 250,000 Naira, someone must have sold it at about 800,000 Naira, making extra profit.
It was not supposed to be like that.

So Amiyi shops, whether one, two, three, or whatever number, should be given back to them. Whoever bought it has bought bad market. The person needs to quit or will have to be paying rent to Amiyi. Simple and short. The same with those that took shops belonging to Amakor.

I wasn’t involved in selling and distribution, as that was not part of my mandate. I don’t know how the distribution and selling were done. Profit generated, I don’t know what happened to it. Whether there was profit or loss, I don’t know.
It was the Mayor that later came to my house with the files but the day she came to my house, Bon Nnaka also came to my house and both of them had a serious confrontation and exchanged very harsh words to each together. Out of anger, the Mayor left my house. She was the only person that made attempt to reach out to me but the so-called committee which I nominated Uzoma Achazie and co never gave a report till today.

Even the architectural master plan of the market, they distorted it. There was a day I went to the market and saw that some small walls were built by the side and people are put there and rents are being collected from them.

Market we made efforts to design, someone distorted the plan. The whole thing is so sad.
(The interview concluded).

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