There was tension early Wednesday as many people were injured as traders at the popular Alaba International Market clashed inside the market in the Ojo area of Lagos State.
The hoodlums also vandalised some vehicles, belonging to the traders and some of their customers.
It took the intervention of the military and anti-riot policemen, who were drafted to the market to prevent bloodshed between the two groups.
The image maker in charge of the state police command, Benjamin Hundeyin confirmed the early morning clash bit and added that the police and other security agencies have restored normalcy at the market.
The Rapid Response Squad also confirmed that normalcy had been restored to the market.
Tribune Online gathered that the market leaders were trying to chase away touts in the market when the clash started.
A trader at the market, Iheanacho told Tribune Online that the whole thing started on Tuesday when the market leadership mandated the task force at the market to chase away tours at the market.
Iheanacho said, “It all started on Tuesday evening when the market leaders mobilised the task force and some traders to chase away the touts, who were operating at the market.”
He added that “The problem continued this morning when the ‘agberos’ regrouped and mobilized their members from other places to the market to attack the task force and the traders.”
Another trader, who identified himself as Josy Nwankwo said “We are traders and we keep our environment clean. We do environmental sanitation every Thursday, and that is why we don’t attend to customers till after 10 am on the day set outside for the cleaning exercise, but we noticed that the Agberos keep littering the road.”
He added that We have public toilets that we pay for and use when we are pressed, but the touts would defecate and urinate anywhere. The Local Government workers would be blaming the traders for the mess caused by the Agberos.
“So, we decided that they should leave the market for us. We had a series of meetings with the leadership of the motor park, but they refused to make a change, hence we decided that enough is enough that they must leave us.”
The trader also stated that “We now chased them away because it is because of the Market that they have a motor park in the market. This morning, they stormed the market with dangerous weapons, shouting that we should leave for our states and leave Lagos for them.”
“We are calling on the State Government to wade into the issue and educate the Ojo local government councils on what to do. On our part, we are organised and we have a task force that goes around to implement discipline, but the touts don’t have, yet they won’t adhere to simple instruction of cleanliness and orderliness,” the trader said.
Hundeyin confirmed the incident and added that normalcy had been restored at the market and also stated that the police would continue to monitor the situation.RRS on its verified Facebook wall also said “Alaba International Market is calm. Normalcy has been restored. @rrslagos767 and the men of Ojo Division are on the ground. There is no cause for alarm as monitoring continues.” (Tribune)
