Traders lament N500m loss to Ile-Epo market crises

• Hausa community denies stopping Tomatoes inflow, begins registration of members
Market leaders, yesterday, lamented that they lost goods worth over N500 million in the crises, which erupted last week at the Ile-Epo Market, in the Abule Egba area of Lagos State.

The Guardian learnt that the crisis began when a member of the Arewa Community placed a bet and won N14, 000, but was paid N12, 000 by the shop owner identified as a Yoruba man.

The demand for the difference soon degenerated into conflict between the two parties.

According to the traders, while the leaders were intervening in the dispute, the Hausa man whose identity is still unknown went and mobilised his members, who are said to be living in Bola (Landfill) in Ile-Epo.

The group, it was reported came out with guns to scare the traders away before attacking them with clubs.

As a result of the crisis, both parties allegedly destroyed trucks of oranges, tomatoes and looted kegs of palm oil, thousands of coconuts, fridges, foodstuffs, generators and fans in the market.

When The Guardian visited the market yesterday, it was discovered that the traders are gradually returning to the market while others were discussing in clusters about the losses during the crises.

Chairman, Perishable Goods Dealer Association, Iso-Oko Section, Ile-Epo Market, Jimoh Nurudeen, said goods and property worth over N500 million were lost to the incident, while a lot of people are still in the hospital receiving treatment.

According to him, the miscreants looted goods, robbed people and set their Lorries and shops ablaze.

He said: “We have had crises before in the market but not of this magnitude.

“Those living on Bola have been our source of worry. They have dangerous weapons. Ile-Epo Divisional Police Officer (DPO) was unable to access the place when he was called to arrest the perpetrators.

“The chairman, Agbado/Oke Odo Local Council Development Area (LCDA), David Famuyiwa, cannot do it alone. We need the Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu to assist us with the Task Force and the Rapid Response Squad (RRS) to flush out miscreants in the landfill.

“These miscreants attack anyone whose vehicle got spoiled from 7:30.p.m. so people abandoned their vehicles and run away.

Rasaq Adelani

“The local council chairman invited the Hausa, Yoruba and Igbo on Friday and warned that the incident should not happen again. He went ahead to impose a curfew between 6:00a.m and 7:00p.m.

“The chairman opened the market on Saturday but our people are still scared and are not coming due to fear.

Speaking with The Guardian, one of the traders injured in his head, Kunle Olafemi said: “I was in my shop that day and suddenly I saw Hausa guys breaking into my shop. They started beating me. I was rushed to the hospital where my head was stitched.”

Another trader, Rasaq Adelani, who was stabbed around his eyes, said: “They broke into my shop, beat up my workers and took their monies away. They took the sum of N730, 000, which I intended to use to buy goods. One of my workers is still in the hospital.”

A palm oil seller, Rosemary Adegbite Aina, lamented that the attackers emptied her shops and beat up her workers. “They took everything in my shop. When they want to start rioting, they blow whistles and all the members will come around and start attacking. They took N150, 000 I kept behind the deep freezer and carted away 120 kegs of palm oil.

“They also carted away my freezer and removed one of my doors.

“They have dominated the market. They are also being sponsored by people of their region who want other tribes out of the market. The government should help the traders who have lost a lot in the crises,” she said.

Aina appealed to the government to send all the guys living in Bola away and use the land to build shops or do other things because they constitute nuisance.

On his part, Tomatoes Sellers, Oke-Odo, Ile-Epo Market, Dahiru Dogo, said: “Everyone knows that there are area boys (street urchins) in every market and they are the cause of the crisis.

“We heard about the issue but before our taskforce got to the scene, a fight had already broken out because they were not patient. We used to resolve N100, 000 disputes promptly, so we were surprised that such level of damage could be caused because of N2000.

“We have a good relationship with the Yoruba in the market. We have been here for over 35 years without serious issues. We always call for meetings to resolve any issues and the good relationship prevents such fights from escalating further. But, the issue escalated the second day after the area boys in this area invited others from far places.”

Rosemary Aina

When asked about efforts to get rid of miscreants living on the sand fill, he said: “We limit our interactions with people in the market and we don’t associate with criminals. We will support the government whenever it decides to send everyone on the Sandfill away because we are tired of them too.

“We lost millions of naira in the crisis. A lot of our tomatoes got burnt. We have 3,000,809 creates, which cost N8000 per create. So, the fire burnt all the creates and 30 shops, and each shop costs N3 million. I saw 10 shops belonging to Yoruba traders burnt too.

“The Baales called the Yoruba guys on Wednesday night and warned everyone.”

When asked about the rumours of stopping bringing Tomatoes to the market, he said: “I am the chairman in the market and I did not give the order, I am not aware. We have never contacted our people to stop bringing goods because we have good understanding and we are following due process.

“Now, we have started registering everyone in the market and we investigate before admitting them.

“Before we register anybody, the person is required to bring two guarantors. We used to ask all the necessary questions. No illegal person will work here henceforth.”