By Adeyinka Adeniran
Traders at the Alegongo Market, Lagelu local government area, Ibadan who were allegedly sacked by the Council Chairman on Tuesday staged a peaceful protest to the Oyo State Government Secretariat, Agodi, Ibadan, with a plea on the governor to urgently intervene to save their means of livelihood.
The protesters who carried placards arrive the Secretariat in the afternoon were full of pleas, urging Governor Makinde to intervene and avert their expulsion from the shops which takes effect on Wednesday, April 9th.
The traders both male and female who were full of kind words and appreciation of the governor said his intervention seem the only grace that can save them and their businesses from been sent out of business.
The traders who said all their efforts to seek audience with the council chairman has been futile since the eviction notice was pasted on their shops about six days ago, said all issues having to do with the ownership of the about 700 shops have long been resolved with the community leaders who created the space for traders in the community.
Inscription in some of the placards reads, “Alegongo Market: Market traders are begging our dear governor to please have mercy on us”, “We the masses are begging you our father”, “We are begging, please come to our aid”, “Your Excellency, we are begging you, please don’t let them demolish our shops”, among others.
One of the leader of the group, Mr Ajibola Keru said they excuse the local government gave was that they want to modernise the market, but noted that cases abound that after such renovations, the initial shop owners are usually schemed out of the reallocation.
Keru said, “In the past three years, we had a threat that they want to demolish our market. They want to rebuild to the modern market. But then we told them that it is not in our plan. Because we were given the allocation that the community owns the market. And give the local government an authority to generate their IGR then.
So there is no agreement between the community and local government that they have been given the market. So, at that time, our father, Chief Bode Amao helped is reached out, and they were called to order.
“Since then, everything is going on. But suddenly, we saw a quit notice. They said we have to vacate that place because it is ready for demolition. And that, if we don’t obey the order, we are going to face the consequences. So we moved around to the community. They said they are not in support of that demolition.
“We felt that, before that can come up, there should be a mutual agreement between the traders, the authorities and local government. Where do you want to place them? What do you want to do exactly? And what is your decision? So when we sign an MOU, based on agreement, then we all know that change is constant. This can be changed.
“But without that, you can’t just come up with a notice for seven days that we should remove a structure. And in the notice now, you said we illegally encroached in a property whereby we are given an allocation letter for the past 20 years. And we are paying rent for the past 20 years.
“And you are now telling us that we illegally encroached in that land. So it’s a slap on our face. We want the government to come to our aid, to save our soul.
“We know that government is government. Government have the power over everything. But there should be a mutual understanding between the government and the authorities before such a decision can be taken. That is why we are here.
The traders alleged the Chairman of the Council was behind the quit notice adding that he has stationed armed security operatives in the market.
“The chairman of local government pasted the quit notice on the market and is aided by many policemen, armed with guns and the town planning officer for Lagelu. So they are the ones posting the notice.
“When we reached out to the state Ministry, they said we should go and contact our chairman. That is their response We reached out to the chairman. But what he said is that the matter is on ground before he came in. But we asked him if he has ever called us for any meeting? We told him that it is right that we should hold meetings with the authorities and him and that there should be an agreement before he think of demolition, but he is telling us that nobody can stop him from doing this. And we went to the community. They said that it is none of their knowledge to do it.
“We have over 700 shops here. We want to appeal to the government to save our soul. If they want to renovate the market, it is not a new thing. But there should be an agreement and understanding between us. Because most of the initial shop owners don’t end up as beneficiaries when they finish it.
“So they give it to other people. But if at all that is not going to happen, we have to sit down together and conclude. Okay, if we do this now, you will be a beneficiary on this condition. All these things are not happening. So you can’t just sit down and say there is nothing anybody can do or stop you from doing this. And you are giving us seven days. And tomorrow (Wednesday, April 9th) is seven days.”
Also speaking, a mother of two, Mrs Blessing Jacob, who secured a place in the market about three months ago said ejecting the traders at some time like this will only add to their woes.
” I’m a makeup artist and I sell jewelry too. I’m a graduate, I have a master’s degree in mass communication. But the government is not even helping us to get jobs and we need to work for ourselves.
“I collected the shop around November. I’m a single mother of two. I collected the shop around November and they brought the notice that we should just vacate the place in seven days.
“I wasn’t aware of any issue over the shops, because I learnt it has been resolved since they asked them to repaint all the shops in state government colours. That was what I heard when I came to rent the shop.
“We have tried to reach out to the local authorities. We tried our best. We held a series of meetings and it’s actually proven abortive. So that’s why we decided to come to the governor to help us, to please have mercy on us. The country is already hard. We don’t need to make it more harder for us.
“Please, please, the government of Oyo State, please consider us single mothers. There are many widows there. There are many women that they don’t have a husband. We are just struggling and striving hard for our children. Please, help us”
The traders were later attended to by the security who tried to lead them to the right authority.
It was however gathered that the traders were later told to return at a later date as the government officials who was to attend to their case was not on sit as at the time of the visit.
