By Kenneth Onuoha
365Daily – Mill owners and traders in the popular Abakaliki Rice Milling Industry have accused the General Manager of Ebonyi Rice World, Hon. Matthew Uguru, of hijacking the structure of their leadership, and injecting bad blood into the peaceful market.
This followed happenings delaying the millers from conducting election of their officials after the state government’s intervention on request for the removal of the former Caretaker Chairman, Hon. Samuel Ogodo.
According to one of the stakeholders in the mill, Chief Maduka Anigor, Uguru, who had installed the former mill Chairman, boasted that the market will never have a peaceful election unless they concede to his demand.
He noted that rice mill owners, from the ugly experience of the past leadership which was imposed on them, insisted that the industry’s constitution on electing their representatives must prevail.
Maduka alleged that Hon. Uguru, who boasted of his relationship with one of the political chieftain in the state, a former South East Zonal vice Chairman of Peoples Democratic Party, said the rice mill owners must allow his choice of candidates to rule the mill or continue to suffer perpetual business losses.
Chief Anigor, who said he had spent not less than thirty years in the milling industry, lamented that during the time of Hon. Samuel Ogodo as their caretaker Chairman, the mill witnessed the highest level of business stagnancy as their customers from rural areas stopped coming to mill their rice due to high taxation and unnecessary extortion from touts allegedly planted by Hon. Uguru.
Speaking, one of the traders who gave his name as Mr Sylvester Ugwumba, said he stopped going to the mill after about a year ago due to excessive taxation from the immediate past caretaker Chairman.
He noted that the mill, which was a beehive of activities, all of a sudden increased their prices of empty sacks, toll charges and other unecessary extortion that were not hitherto in the market.
“Abakaliki Rice Mill was our major place of buying rice since I started my business for the past twenty years but all of a sudden things started increasing everyday.
“Empty sack that was sold for N150 for 50kg turned to N300, and 25kg which was N100 turned N250 and so forth, with charges for their taxation.
“I got a call some weeks ago that government had intervened and normalcy has been returned. I came to see by myself that the market is now at peace and price returned to a considerable amount as seen in other mills.
Corroborating the report, another stakeholder in the mill, Mr. Ignatius Chinedu, revealed that he has it on good authority that Hon. Uguru has forwarded some names to one of APC chieftains m to be imposed on them as new executives of the industry.
He said they include Mr. Jeremiah Oduma as Chairman, Chijioke Iloduba as Vice Chairman, Emmanuel Onu as Financial Secretary and Sunday Oyota as Treasurer.
When contacted on phone, the General Manager of Ebonyi Rice World, Hon. Mathew Uguru, said that he is not a member of rice.
He said: “Journalists, do you believe things that they told you and besides, am I a member of rice Mill?”
Meanwhile, Mr. Sylvanus Njoku appealed for free, fair and credible election, adding that the mill’s image had been badly affected with the last caretaker leadership.
He stressed that imposing another group of leaders with the government instrumentality as threatened by some stakeholders would do more harm than good.
Mr Njoku called on the state Governor, Engr David Umahi, who, according to him, has a listening ear, to intervene by ensuring that the leadership of the mill follows the Constitutional principles of the industry.