By Tony Okafor, Awka
A major confrontation has erupted in Awka North Local Government Area over the Isuaniocha Junction Motor Park, pitting the Chairman of Awka North Local Government Area, Hon. ThankGod Anago, and operatives of the Agunechemba security outfit against aides to Governor Chukwuma Soludo and commercial tricycle (Keke) operators.
The crisis stems from efforts to relocate tricycle operators from the Isuaniocha Junction Motor Park to another location allegedly not approved by the Anambra State Ministry of Transport.
The operators accused the mayor of deploying Agunechemba operatives to intimidate and chase them away from the junction park, which they insist was duly approved by the Ministry of Transport.
They also alleged that officials of the Awka North Revenue Committee were demanding a registration fee of N10,000 from each operator before allowing them to operate from the alternative motor park allegedly favoured by the council.
When The RAZOR News Correspondent visited the Isuaniocha Junction Motor Park, more than 10 Agunechemba operatives were seen preventing tricycle operators from loading passengers and directing them to another location.
The operators maintained that the alternative park, where they are allegedly being compelled to relocate, has not been approved by the Ministry of Transport.
The controversy escalated when the Governor’s Senior Special Assistant on Security and Team Leader of the Ministry of Transport Enforcement Team, Mr. John Chris, reportedly confronted the Agunechemba operatives at the scene.
According to eyewitnesses, the Agunechemba commander in Isuaniocha, Mr. Goodluck Uche, admitted that his team was deployed by the mayor through the Chairman of the Awka North Revenue Committee to enforce the relocation directive.
Chairman of the Anambra State Tricycle Drivers Association, Mr. Ifeanyi Okafor, condemned the action, insisting that the Isuaniocha Junction Motor Park remains the only government-approved park in the area.
He described the proposed alternative park as inconvenient, saying drivers travelling towards Mgbakwu and neighbouring communities would be forced to leave the highway, drive nearly 300 metres into another park to drop passengers, and then return to the main road to continue their journeys.
According to him, such an arrangement would waste fuel, increase traffic congestion and impose unnecessary hardship on both commuters and operators.
Okafor also questioned why only tricycle operators were being targeted while buses and other commercial vehicles continued to load and offload passengers along the roadside without interference.
Also speaking, the owner of the property being used as the junction park, Ozo Tony Nkem Onyeagolu, said he converted the abandoned filling station into a private motor park after repeated appeals from tricycle operators.
He said he cleared the premises, installed Closed-Circuit Television (CCTV) cameras for security and made the property available because of its strategic location and convenience for commuters.
Responding to the allegations, the Mayor of Awka North Local Government Area, Hon. ThankGod Anago, dismissed them as false.
He denied authorising anyone to collect the alleged N10,000 registration fee and insisted that the dispute had nothing to do with extortion but with public safety.
“It is not possible to site a motor park at a road junction. It is not done anywhere. Nobody approved that place to be used as a motor park. It was formerly a filling station,” the mayor said.
Anago maintained that the state government had earlier directed the filling station to vacate the site because of its location, wondering why the same premises should now serve as a motor park.
He also dismissed the alleged Ministry of Transport approval letter as fake, insisting that no ministry could establish or approve a motor park in any local government area without the knowledge and involvement of the local government authority.
“This is not a banana republic,” he declared.
On the allegation that tricycle operators were being compelled to pay N10,000, the mayor said he was unaware of any such demand.
“I am not aware of anybody collecting money or asking tricycle operators to pay for registration at that park. Nobody has been authorised by me to collect any registration fee from anybody,” he stated.
