Esther Salifu
The Traders at the Pedro Police Officers Wives Association market in the Somolu area of Lagos State has appealed to the wife of inspector General of Police, Mrs. Elizabeth Egbetokun, to intervene and prevent the demolition of their market.
They urged Mrs. Egbetokun to consider their situation.
A trader, who simply identified herself as Abigail, shared her fears: “We heard that they are planning to demolish the market and rebuild it.”
“We were in the market on Monday and Tuesday last week when some people including a white man walked around the market and took pictures of the shops.
“It was one of the people who came to inspect the market who told one of us that they are coming back by November to demolish the market and rebuild it.
“They said the new shops would be sold to us for N5m, each. Most of us don’t even make up to N200,000, from our businesses. How can we afford that?”
She added, “We are appealing to the Inspector General of Police, Kayode Egbetokun, to please talk to his wife and help us.”
A trader identified as John, who recently took a loan to stock his shop stated that
“I borrowed N5m to buy goods, and now I’m worried about what will happen if the market is demolished.
“My goods are perishable, and I can’t afford to lose them. If that happens, my children won’t be able to go to school, and I won’t be able to pay my rent,” he lamented.
“Aside from me, there are other people in the market who are also managing. The economic situation of the country is bad. I am appealing to whoever is concerned to please consider us in the market and stop the demolition of the shops.
He said that if the market was demolished, some of them would just collapse and die because their sources of livelihood depended on what they sold in the market.
“We have some who sell food, they feed their children and husbands from what they sell.
“If such a place is demolished now, how do you expect such people to survive, when they have no other source of livelihood or income”, he said.
“We know the IGP and his wife are compassionate people who care about the masses. We believe they will listen to our cries and help us,” John concluded
