I
have personally and officially followed closely, the case of Ladipo
market, Mushin LGA Lagos. I assert that the closing down of Ladipo
market by the Lagos State Government and the arrest, detention and
dehumanizing of Igbo traders in that market is a clear case of
oppression and injustice by powerful, primordial forces intent on
dislodging the traders, dispossessing them of their assets and taking
over a market they built with their own sweat and resources.
This
is the culmination of a long-drawn scheme and ceaseless attempts by
these self-serving and base individuals and forces to forcefully and
illegally throw out the traders and take over their market, in utter
violation of subsisting agreements that the traders will run the market
for a specified period of time having spent their money constructing
structures in the market.
The
claims of 'environmental degradation','obstruction of traffic and
drainage' etc are fraudulent pretext and sheer subterfuge for what is
apparently a case of ethnic persecution fuelled by hatred and the
individual avarice of some people who have over the years nursed the
ambition to take over the market- and have on several occasions- and up
to December 2012, used both the police and thugs to harass, intimidate,
hound and even made attempts on the lives of the leadership and members
of the traders association.
A
section of the media has also been employed to propagate falsehood in
furtherance of the dubious agenda of the masterminds of this wicked act.
Those
innocent traders branded 'bakasi boys' and currently detained by the
police must be released. The issues leading to, and surrounding, the
closure of the market should be transparently investigated and truth and
justice must prevail!
Okechukwu Nwanguma
Advocacy Coordinator Network
on Police Reform in Nigeria
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