This action did not go down well with the traders who are alleging that it was taken because they refused to bribe the chairman with N2m he demanded as gratification. In a petition to the Commissioner for Commerce and Industry, and signed by the chairman of A-D sub union, Chief Cyril Jubulu, secretary, Mrs. Eugenia Adikuru and 23 others, the traders stated how on assumption of office, Akubueze demanded for N2m gratification.
The petition read, “We wish to inform you that against the wishes of members of the zone and not minding the attendant consequences, Mr.Lucky Akubueze, acting above his powers purportedly dissolved an elected executive of A-D sub union and announced the splitting of the zone into two. As elected executive and members of the zone, we reject in its entirety the purported dissolution because Mr. Akubueze as an appointed chairman has no powers to sack elected officials whose tenure have not ended.
“Against the lies that he was acting on behalf of the governor, we are aware that government did not send him to demand a gratification ofN2m from the zone, the rejection of which is the bedrock of his illegitimate actions.”
The traders also alleged that Akubueze had been boasting that as a relation of Gov Orji, he would do anything and get away with it,even as he has been using Abia State Vigilante Service to harass officials of the zone. When contacted, Akubueze said no zone in the market had up to N2m in its account and wondered why he should be accused of demanding money.