Adesola Wades Into Abuja Markets Leadership Crisis

By: Wisdom Acka

Protesting traders have been assured of amicable resolution of the company’s leadership crisis that has paralyzed operations of the once peaceful organisation in recent times.

This is as the Permanent Secretary, Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA), Mr. Olusade Adesola, has assured that the Administration has taken measures to resolve the matter, restore traders’ confidence and stability in the markets.

The Permanent Secretary said this, while addressing the protesting traders, who besieged the FCTA Secretariat on Thursday, demanding an end to the lingering crisis to allow them resume operations.

Adesola, who was represented by the Administration’s Head of Internal Security, Sunday Olubiyi, said: “We are aware of the crisis and the Administration is doing everything to resolve it. The Permanent Secretary is also working towards it. You can come with all your documentations”.

Thursday’s protest was the second protest in two weeks over leadership succession crisis of the AMML.

Recall that a former Managing Director of the Abuja Market Management Limited has refused to handover the office to his successor.

The situation has been worsened by conflicting court orders given to the two parties involved.

Speaking on behalf of the traders earlier, Abubakar Abdullahi, Secretary General, FCT Amalgamated Traders Association, lamented that traders and other business operators in Abuja markets could not continue to be paying service charge and other levies to the wrong people in such a situation.

He noted that for the traders to continue to comply with the revenue collection in the markets, FCTA needed to tell them who was the authentic MD of AMML. 

Abdullahi said: “The trend of problems facing the traders after the coming back of Faruk, the embattled Managing Director of Abuja Markets Management Limited is unbecoming. We have seen videos where different people are dragging for things in the office.

“We are being affected directly when the leadership of AMML is not coordinated. The markets are not stable犀利士 because of the conflict,” he said. 

“The service charge and the dues we pay in the market, we are supposed to know exactly who to pay to. AMML is the collector of revenue of any kind in the market for the FCTA, so we want to know who is in charge,” he added.

“We have seen a letter from Abuja Investments Company Ltd, terminating the contract of Abubakar Faruk, we have also seen another letter telling us to stop paying money to anybody,” he reiterated.