Traders at Ladipo Main Market in Mushin, Lagos State are currently wailing due to the ongoing demolition of the shop structures at the market by the state government.
Ladipo market
Traders at Ladipo Main Market in Mushin, Lagos State were in shock and tears as bulldozers and a team of security personnel arrived the market on Thursday to demolish the market for reconstruction.
As at 4.30 pm on Thursday shops had been brought down while the exercise continued on Friday. Traders were ordered to leave the market with their goods and when they attempted to resist, the bulldozer moved in and started the demolition.
Some goods were destroyed as many of the traders were not in their shops because of the Independence Day celebration and public holiday. Traders and the Mushin Local government had been at loggerheads over plans to re-construct the market and turn it into a modern plaza. The traders, through their leaders alleged that they were not carried along before the plans to re-construct the market was carried out.
They expressed concern over what happened to shop owners in other markets where such reconstruction was carried out and they never got back their shops after the reconstruction. It was because of that that they resisted the plan and went to a Lagos High Court to obtain an injunction to stop the demolition.
Following the order, the traders, developer and Mushin Local Government went into discussion and negotiation which led to a truce. And the traders, through their BOT chairman, Nnamdi Chukwuka, withdrew the matter from the court.
P.M.NEWS gathered that at the meeting it was agreed that the traders would vacate their shops on 1 October, 2015 for work to begin in some parts of the market.
It was in line with the agreement that the developer moved in and started the demolition. The traders who spoke to our reporter said they had agreed to vacate the market on Sunday, 4 October, for work to start on Monday, 5 October.
They said they were shocked when the the government officials came and asked the traders to move out and did not allow them to remove anything in their shops before demolishing their shops.
As at the time of filing this report the demolition was still going on as traders were busy removing their goods from the rubble in their shops.