Uche Nnaji Promises Free Shops for Enugu Traders: Free Shops, No Tax, and a Campaign Office Full of Hope

If you have ever had your shop demolished, you will understand why “free shop” sounds like the sweetest two words in the English language, right after “rice is ready.”

So on Sunday, Uche Nnaji, the PDP’s governorship candidate in Enugu, received a delegation at his campaign office. It included displaced traders from Gariki Market, Arewa Northern Forum leaders, Inter-Faith Council members and non-indigene community leaders. In the room was every kind of person who has ever been told “the exercise is for your own good.”

And what did Nnaji bring? Promises, my dear. A full jollof of promises.

He said he would rebuild demolished markets and give the shops back to their original owners “free of charge.” Then, a few lines later, the Guardian says the shops might be free, or traders might pay “a small amount” in phases, depending on resources. Free-ish. The “free” is wearing a seatbelt.

Then the tax talk. He says the state’s taxes are excessive, that he will review them, and that one of the first things he will do is remove them “so that our people can breathe fresh air once again.” I am telling you, there is no Nigerian who has not heard “we will remove this tax” and quietly asked, “Which of the seventeen?”

He also wants to relocate filling stations that sit on market land because nothing says “urban planning” like a petrol station sitting where your yam seller used to stand.

And he threw in industrialisation in oil, cement, iron ore, and steel “within two years,” plus maybe free medical care for elderly residents. Two years. In this country, two years is how long it takes to fix a pothole after the governor has already driven past it twice.

Now, before the market women start cheering, let us be fair. Nnaji is a candidate, not the governor. He has no shops to give today. The reports do not say who ordered the demolitions, how many traders were affected, or whether the Enugu State government has responded. Nobody has said a word from that side, at least in what I read.

And yes, we must also say it: Nnaji is being prosecuted by the ICPC on certificate forgery and money laundering charges, which he denies, and which are before a court. That is not a conviction, so we say it as it is, nothing more. But a man promising to restore honest livelihoods while carrying a court case has an interesting campaign poster.

My honest opinion? The traders do not need a speech. They need a shop, a receipt, and a promise that the bulldozer will not come back on Tuesday morning.

If you are a trader, keep your documents safe. If you are a politician, remember that “free” is the most expensive word in an election season.