They are not our members, says ex-chairman
Aggrieved members of the United Allied Spare Parts Dealers Association (UASPDA) Trade Fair, Lagos, have called on their ‘former’ chairman, Mr. Bartholomew Achukwu, to step aside for a newly constituted executive headed by Fred Mmegwa.

They made this known during a protest at the complex yesterday where they accused Achukwu of dictatorship, lack of transparency, extortion, among others.

The protest, which began peacefully, nearly escalated into violence, leading to temporary confiscation of the video camera of a Lagos-based television station.
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The atmosphere remained tense as the protesters displayed placards with inscriptions like, “you cannot rule forever,” “the days of dictatorship have been abrogated,” “we say no to politics of calumny,” among many others.

The arrival of a detachment of policemen led by the DPO, Trade Fair Complex, Kayode Ojapinwa, restored calm.

Ojapinwa urged the opposing factions to nominate five of their leaders who will follow him to his office, to tell their own version.

Azubuike Anazodo of the opposing faction, speaking, for Mmegwa, told The Guardian that they collectively bought the piece of land, built the market, which they started way back in 2008.

After completion in late 2013, the chairman, who was only appointed in an interim capacity, began apportioning stores to “outsiders who were never part of us, and giving them shops at choice locations after collecting money from them.”

When contacted for his reactions, Achukwu referred The Guardian to a trader in the complex, Akusinachi Nneobi, who said he wouldn’t comment on the “dirty politics” going on among them, but said that most of the protesters “are not our members. How can you be outside of a market and dictate what happens inside?” he queried.