The Ohanaeze Ndigbo says the demolition of over five thousand shops in Oshodi market by Lagos State Governor, Akinwunmi Ambode which is largely occupied by Igbos on the first week of the New Year was done in bad faith .
Speaking at a press briefing Tuesday in Umuahia, Abia state capital, the national President of the Ohanaeze Youth Council, OYC, Mazi Okechukwu Isiguzoro With the National Secretary,Okwu Nnabuike said Ambode by his actions had drawn a battle line between himself and the entire Igbo land.
While describing the demolition as “an action done in bad faith”, the group wondered why the Lagos State Government should carry out such act at a time when it clearly knew that the owners of the shops were in their villages for the Christmas and the New Year festivities.
He said, “it’s instructive to observe here that contrary to all principles of common justice, the traders were merely given few days quit notice. It is equally shocking that the government chose such a wrong time for the demolition exercise, thereby not only taking the shops from them but making sure that their wares were looted.
“We are forced to ask: could this be the starting point in implementing Oba of Lagos’s earlier threat during the election period that Ndigbo would be thrown into the Lagoon? Could it be another round of deportation of exercise, similar to what former governor Fashola did? These appear to be so considering that a witch cried in the night and a child died in the morning.”
While maintaining that the Lagos State Government’s action was a threat to the unity of the country, he demanded for adequate compensation for the traders who had suffered losses as a result of the demolition.
He stressed that “it is quite inhuman for people’s means of livelihood to be taken away from them in such a manner. The government’s claim that arms were recovered from a section of the market does not fly at all here because it cannot be a reason for such a wicked treatment purely targeted on a particular people.
“We demand that the Governor of Lagos State should direct relevant government agencies to adequately compensate these traders; anything short of that, Ndigbo will henceforth regard the Governor as their number one arch-enemy. (Daily Trust)
