Alaba International Market In Lagos Shut Over Traders, Hoodlums Clash
THERE was pandemonium on Tuesday, October 18 at the popular Alaba International Market in Ojo, Lagos State, as traders clashed with hoodlums over extortion.
Consequently, the market was shut later in the day to forestall further break down of law and order in the area, especially the market and its environs.
Trouble was said to have started when the traders refused to be extorted in the name of levies for the park.
According to a trader in the market: “Trouble started when the new chairman of the Alaba Electronic Union ordered the thugs, otherwise known as Agbero to stop the collecting of various levies imposed on motorists coming into the market. But the thugs told the new union chairman that the former chairman sold the collection of levies to them at the cost of N16million.
“The new chairman, because of complaints from traders over extortions and illegal levies from the thugs, asked them to stop the collection. He asked them to tell him the balance of the money paid to his predecessor, so that he can pay them back, but they refused.
“So, on Tuesday, the thugs came to continue the illegal collection, but they were resisted and chased away. Because of that, traders were advised not to open their shops on Wednesday because of fear that they will mobilise to attack traders.
“This afternoon (Wednesday afternoon), those thugs mobilised and came to the market with various types of guns. They even overpowered soldiers and policemen sent to the market to ensure peace. They shot two persons, who were rushed to the hospital. I don’t know the state of their health. The shooting of the two traders angered the traders to mobilise to chase them out of the market.
“As we speak, the entire market is in turmoil. We are keeping vigilant, so that the hoodlums will not come back to burn down the electronic section of the market.”
Videos of the clash went viral on Wednesday, showing hundreds of traders chasing the suspected hoodlums out of the market.
In one of them, a trader suspected to have been shot by the hoodlums was being taken away in a wheelbarrow.
