The demolished market
Demolition of markets in Lagos has become the trend in recent times, especially by the local councils and development areas. The latest to dealt the bitter pill are traders at Ashade Market, Phase One in Agege local council, who were given the greatest shock of their lives on Thursday morning, when some young men, armed with dangerous weapons and bulldozers, leveled their means of livelihood.
The worried traders expressed their displeasure at the local council and the developer, one Alhaja Dosunmu, for carrying out such a dastardly act without prior notice.
They told The Guardian: “Agege local council and the new property developer, Alhaja Dosunmu, have gone against the Lagos State High Court’s injunction granted by the Hon. Justice A.M Lawal, dated September 17, 2015, which stated that we, the traders should not be forcefully ejected from Ashade Market in Agege, pending the determination of the motion on notice, dated August 18, 2015.
“Flouting this injunction is total contempt of court as the matter is still ongoing. Strangely, the developer we took to court is different from this new one demolishing our market. The former property developer was one Mr. Monsur Alao Owolabi.”
Mr. Adeiza Mike, one of the victims said, “this action is horrendous and barbaric in a country where there is law and order. How can any enlightened person go against the court injunction? It just illustrates that people do not respect the law in this country. Rather, they want the law to respect them.”
He further said that the new developer did not even give them any notice before carrying out the demolition. “There is a proper way of ejecting people from a place. It is most painful that property worth millions of naira have been destroyed in this market as a result of the demolition.”
Hakeem Oyabanjo, a spare-parts trader, said “I have lost so much because my shop was demolished. We just came in the morning and met them destroying our shops. We were not even allowed to remove anything as there were soldiers without badges preventing us from doing so.
“The property developer told us that the only person she would pay attention to was Mrs. Folashade Tinubu-Ojo, the Iya-Oloja General (Head of Traders). We phoned her many times to help us stop the woman from continuing with the demolition. She neither answered our calls nor called us back.”
The property developer, Mrs. Dosunmu, when contacted for her reaction, said she, in company of the council Executive Secretary, Omofunmilewa Adejombo, would only speak with The Guardian at the secretariat tomorrow (Tuesday).
Guardian