ABIA COCOA ASSOCIATION ALLEGES EXTORTION BY MONITORING TEAM, DEMANDS PROBE. (PHOTO).

 Abia cocoa association alleges extortion by monitoring team, demands probe

The Abia State chapter of the Cocoa Association of Nigeria has called on Governor Alex Otti to disband the recently constituted Cocoa Monitoring Team in the state for allegedly using the deputy governor’s name, Ikechukwu Emetu, to extort N1.5 million from cocoa merchants in the state.

The association, in a statement signed by its chairman, Mr Johnson Chidi-Uche, also urged the state government to set up a panel of inquiry to probe and investigate the activities of members of the monitoring team, including Mrs Sarah Uzochukwu, its Secretary, Mr Enoch Eke Kalu, the Chairman and Chibunna Osondu Nkwocha, whose bank account was reportedly used to collect the illegal money through transfers from her members.

CAN also pray that the state government compels the persons mentioned above to return the over N1.8 million they illegally and fraudulently collected from its members.

It averred that trouble started when members of the monitoring team devised some alien guidelines, which mandated cocoa merchants obtain approval from the team before loading their products.

CAN revealed that the new guidelines, reportedly masterminded by Uzochukwu, were introduced during a meeting of the monitoring team on October 30. It added that CAN and other relevant stakeholders in the cocoa business in the state were not invited to the meeting.

Chidi-Uche pointed out that in the bid to enforce the obnoxious guidelines, even after CAN protested for it to be reviewed, the Monitoring Team resorted to using security agencies to extort, intimate and embarrass cocoa merchants in the state.

He warned that if the state government refuses to call the said team to order urgently, the few cocoa exporters doing business in the state might relocate to neighbouring states, with the resultant loss of revenue to the state.

When contacted a member of the cocoa monitoring team Mr Osondu, denied the allegation of extortion and intimidation of cocoa merchants in the state.

He said that the only money that was paid into the personal account of one of the team’s members was N1000 per ton of cocoa load in the state.

He explained that the team was collecting the money because the code for paying the money into the state single treasurer account had not been generated, adding that when the code is generated the so far collected will paid into the account.