Traders at the demolished Owonifari Market in the Oshodi area of Lagos State say the state government did not allow the court to rule before it demolished the market.
Our correspondent learnt that prior to the demolition, the traders had filed a suit against the state government before a Lagos High Court sitting in Ikeja.
The traders’ solicitor, Godwin Ugwu, claimed the government destroyed goods worth N50bn, and rendered 8,000 Nigerians jobless.
He said, “The Owonifari Market was built around 1978 by the Federal Government under the Federal Ministry of Works and Housing, and the shops were allocated to traders with due process when Commodore Nduibusi Kanu was the Governor of Lagos State.
“The market has 367 main shops, 1,000 attachment shops and 1,200 KP shops, which are recognised by the Oshodi-Isolo Local Government Area. The market comprises people from different ethnic groups, but the Igbos are more than 90 per cent and they are mostly Christians.
“When the Isopakodowo Market was built in 2014, and it was planned that traders should be relocated, they objected, among other reasons, that the shops in Isopakodowo, a Federal ‘Right of Way’ could not contain them, and it was a private arrangement which did not give them full ownership as in the Owonifari Market.”
Ugwu added that when the former administration was briefed about the history, it honoured the status of the market.
He said, “On December 30, 2015, the government, through the Ministry of Physical Planning and Urban Development, came into the market with trucks, caterpillars and policemen to demolish the place.
“There was a little resistance and the Commissioner of Police came to the scene and after hearing both sides ordered the government officials to go back. The government then served notices to quit before leaving the market.
“The traders then filed a suit, ID/1608/15, between Chief Matthew Ohazurike and others and the Lagos State Attorney General and others, on January 4, 2016. Parties to the suit were all served. Despite this, the government went on the night of January 5, and destroyed shops and goods worth over N50bn, putting 8,000 Nigerians on the labour market.”
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