If care is not taken, the trouble lurking at the
Amuwo Odofin local government area owned Shopping Complex located at
Mile 2 in Lagos State, may blow out of proportion and could spell doom
for the operators of the market as market women took to the streets protesting alleged terror and mistreatment, stripped to their under wears, on April 27, chanting solidarity songs against tyranny and oppression.
The
source of the trouble is a certain man, Alhaji Saheed Abiola, otherwise
known as Zyad 1 Ultimate, whom the traders say has been unleashing a
reign of terror on them using his band of thugs and miscreant.
According to the market women, Abiola has been making
life uneasy for them by imposing unreasonable levies on them, sending
his thugs to beat them, having arrogated so much power to himself, even
though he was a member of the executives of the market.
The
traders in the market said that one of the crimes the man was best
known for was ordering his thugs to strip traders and flog them publicly
to serve as deterrent to others. Abiola was said to have so cowed many
of the traders, that they treat him as a thin-god and anyone who dared
to confront him, paid dearly for their effrontery.
One of the traders said in anger:
"We can no longer do our businesses in the market
for fear of being attacked by thugs loyal to Abiola. The men among us
have refused to join the protest for fear of being beaten up by Abiola’s
thugs. These thugs used to pounce on any trader who dares to challenge
him."
The Iyaloja of the market, Catherine
Omotoyosi Awhidhire, said that Abiola sent his thugs to beat her up,
inflicting injuries on her back and breast.
"He
has now taken to flogging aged traders, not caring about their frail
health and bodies. He used to boast that he has the police in Festac in
his pocket and that nobody would be able to do anything to him.
He
used to drop names of important people to further cow the traders. He’s
mostly fond of dropping Senator Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s name!"
But the
unrepentant Abiola who said he got into the market as a load carrier
until he took over leadership of the market, had this to say:
"Babaloja
and other traders are only envious of me because of the way I have been
generating money. I’m not among the executives of the market, but I’m a
major stakeholder in this market.
Since I
assumed leadership of the market, things have started moving on well. I
don't flog the traders.
Anybody who gets flogged could be because they
are stubborn and do not pay their levies."
Students
of history in Nigeria will know that whenever women strip down to make
any form of protest, there is always an ugly repercurssion.
The
Aba Women Riots in 1929 where women protested against the British
colonial masters naked brought a lot of changes in the society.
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