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Christopher Oji
A group of Traders in Agboju market, Amuwo-Odofin, Festac Town, Lagos, has appealed to the State Government to stop the Lagos State Task force from demolishing and taking over their source of livelihood in the market.
The traders who took over the streets to protest what they termed injustices in the highest order said the planned take over of their means of livelihoods would affect them negatively.
In a peaceful protest, the traders who marched to Amuwo-Odofin Local Government Area, FESTAC Town were seen carrying various placards with different inscriptions like “Sanwo-Olu save us from land grabbers, ‘we are traders not drug dealers’ among others.
The developer of the land who rented out the market space to the traders, Mr. Gilbert Fulani Okereke, said he had an agreement with the government sometimes in 2010 and that the late ‘Iya-oloja’ (market leader) Mrs. Abibatu Mogaji was a party to the agreement.
According to Okereke : “A committee, which was headed by Mr. S.A Ajose was constituted and I was given the go-ahead to develop the land for a period of 38 years and they promised to give me a letter of approval within 60 days ,but till this moment, I am yet to get the approval from the government.
“I took loan from the bank to be able to develop the property and when I could not service the loan again, the bank reported to the EFCC and I was interrogated until it was clear that I was not embezzling the money”, he said.
Okereke further said the late Alhaja Mogaji was so kind to him, hence the reason why he named the plaza after her to immortalise her name ,” but some persons are instigating the current Iyabo Ojo against me to take over the market. I am appealing to Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu to intervene ,because I have spent billions of money sand filling the land .
Mr.Emma Onyia, lawyer to Kassy Associates also corroborated Okereke’s story saying that his client had an agreement with the Amuwo Odofin LGA and he was given a lease for 35- years and three years for the construction of the plaza and for the past ten years, the government has not given the approval letter to him.
“Then came an interloper who is not a party to the agreement who started claiming ownership of the property. The matter is ongoing in the court, yet they have continued to cause trouble in the market. They have invited the state Task force to demolish the market. We want the government to intervene ,that is why we have protested to the LGA to enable the Chairman to carry our message to government the state government .
“We also want the LGA to adhere to the gentle men agreement with Okereke by giving the approval letter . We are not asking too much.The place was a swamp before Okereke sand filled it”.
One of the affected traders, Ismail Ibrahim, said: “We came here to defend our right. I have been selling in this market for the past 15 years and we are not into sales of illicit drugs as alleged. The betrayer among us has been giving us trouble since she was sent her away from the market ,she has been threatening us with thugs.We have not done anything wrong, we are doing our legitimate business”, he said.
Efforts to speak with the Chairman of Amuwo-Odofin Council however proved abortive as security agents prevented newsmen from entering the premises.
Chairman of Lagos State Taskforce, CSP Olayinka Egbeyemi, said that the land belongs to Lagos State government and that the government wants to make use of it.
