Alayabiagba Market
Market men and women in Alayabiagba Market in the Ifelodun area of Lagos State have kicked against the plan by the Ifelodun Local Council Development Area to demolish the market without recourse to the agreement signed with their unions.
At a press briefing in the market on Friday, the market leaders said the chairman of the council, Alhaji Fatai Ajidagba, in conjunction with a construction firm, had also sent traders to a side of the main road.
They argued that the action would not only endanger their lives, but also bring them into collision course with the law of the state which prohibits street trading.
One of the market leaders, Mr. Moruf Yusuf, said the local council planned to give out the reconstructed stalls at prices ranging from N1.2m to N6m, which he said the average trader in the market could not raise.
He said, “Our ordeal in Alayabiagba Market started when we were told in February, 2013 that a contractor would renovate our market for us.
“We all signed a memorandum of understanding with the council chairman, and he told us that the work would be done in phases. We also agreed that the price of shops would not be up to N1m.
“But on September 5, 2013, while the phase one was still under construction, we saw council officials marking other shops for demolition. When we asked why, they said the agreement was no longer relevant and that they would demolish all structures.”
Mr. Chima Anyanwu, the market secretary, said the unions in a desperate move to stop the demolition of the market, approached the National Market leader, Mrs Folashade Tinubu-Ojo, to intervene.
He said, “We ran to our mother, Alhaja Folashade Tinubu-Ojo, pleading with her that a lot of the women in our market are widows and that there are over 3,000 traders who could be affected.
“But the chairman became angry after Tinubu-Ojo spoke with him. He said he would demolish the whole market and nothing would happen.
“We also got a lawyer, who has secured an injunction for us; but they remained adamant that the market must be demolished.”
Head of the pepper sellers in the market, who identified herself as Iya Afusa, said the council had cajoled some people into signing that they were in support of the demolition.
“But they were only able to cajole five of the 56 unions in the market. Tell me, how does that make a majority? They told us that we have less than seven days to vacate,” she said.
The chairman of the council said he had done nothing to wrong to warrant the anger and the blame he was getting from the marketers.
He said, “Not all the shops in the phase one were demolished. The developer had wanted to demolish the whole sections of the market under phase one, but I said no, and that it should be done little by little so they could still have a place to stay. I don’t know why they are blaming me now.”
He added that one of the market leaders was instigating the sellers against the council. He added that the leader had questions to answer over N17m meant for the PHCN. He said the protest against the reconstruction of the market was a smokescreen to stall the probe.
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