Tears as government demolishes Sabo market in Ikorodu

Traders at Sabo Market in Ikorodu outskirts of Lagos State were greeted with a rude shock on arrival at the market yesterday as Lagos State government officials demolished their shops.

It was gathered that the demolition was carried out by the officials of the Lagos State ministry of environment on Wednesday night when all the traders in the market had closed for the day.

They were said to have received notifications from the authorities two weeks ago. In order to stop the demolition exercise, the traders approached the state government for resolution on the exercise on Wednesday and had a meeting with some top government officials, including the Deputy Governor, Dr. Idiat Adebule and the Commissioner for environment.

It was gathered that goods worth millions of naira were lost due to demolition of the market as some of the traders were not around during the on Wednesday night to evacuate their goods from their shops.

Some of the aggrieved shop owners said the demolition was a betrayal on the part of the government, as the action came to them as a shock. It was gathered that some traders who rushed to the scene when they heard about the demolition on Thursday morning, tried to salvage what they could from their stalls.

Meanwhile, some of the market women were said to be wailing at the misfortune that befell them claiming that they were not given a long notice before the demolition was prosecuted.

Mr. Haruna Muhammed, a textile material merchant in the market said the demolition has caused them to lose their means of livelihood. He said: “we are law abiding citizen of Nigeria; I have been in this market for over 15years. All I have laboured for in my life have been demolished by the State government and I don’t know where to start from anymore.”

Miss Ayotola Adedokun whose father’s newly established company was destroyed during the demolition in the market was weeping uncontrollably. According to her, “My dad sold his property just to enable him buy another property at N15million in ikorodu for his Feed mill business.”

“We were at home when we received the news about the demolition to our surprise, when we got to the market, some of the newly acquired crushers, grinders, and generator my dad just bought had been destroyed during the demolition.”