Over 1,000 market women from Nnewi Main Market,  under the umbrella of Agboedo United Market Association, on Monday, locked down the industrial town of Nnewi during a peaceful protest.

Spokesperson for the protesting women, Martha Mbonu,  alleged that women in Agboedo market had suffered all manner of extortive tendencies of the chairman of the market association, Christopher Osuchukwu.

She noted that the women traders decided to take to the streets as the chairman had  come up with an idea that every trader in Agboedo market would be issued with an identity card at the cost of N500.

Mbonu complained that many women in the section of the market were petty traders,  dealing in pepper, tomatoes, okra and other vegetables with some of them running a business which capital base might not be more than N3,000.

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“We have attempted to make Osuchukwu see reason, but, he has remained stiff-necked on making us get his identity card when many of us already have national ID card and Permanent Voters Card (PVC). If you multiply our number by N500, you will begin to appreciate how much our chairman wants to reap from us,” she said.

The women alleged that the chairman was coming up with the idea of ID card to disenfranchise many  women during his second tenure election coming up in July, 2019.