Traders and police have continued to trade counteraccusations over those responsible for the burning of some shops in the Abuja main market located at Wuse, where violence erupted last Tuesday.
Daily Trust on Sunday reports that the incident, which was triggered by an alleged shooting of a petty trader (hawker) by an operative of a correctional centre, also led to the burning of some vehicles, destruction of part of the police station, as well as a building that houses the market management. The trader eventually died.
The market was later shut down indefinitely around 3pm on that faithful day over what the authorities described as security reason.
The deceased, identified as Ibrahim Yahaya and popularly known as Abba, was said to have also been engaged as a guide to customers in the market, as well as shopping for clients whose engagement would not give the time to come to the market.
About eight vehicles, including a Hummer bus owned by the correctional centre, a police van, and some belonging to officials of the Abuja Market Management Limited (AMML), were burnt down, along with shops numbering about 10.
The public relations officer of the AMML, Innocent Obiechina, said stakeholders were still interacting on the date to reopen the facility, which, according to him, would include an agreement from both parties.
While the police have blamed the burning down of vehicles, as well as attack on two official buildings by an angry mob, traders, on the other hand, are blaming the security operatives for burning the affected shops, which, according to them, resulted from a thrown teargas.
But the spokesperson of the police, Federal Capital Territory (FCT) command, SP Josephine Adeh, has insisted that the hoodlums are responsible for all the atrocities in order to take advantage of the situation and steal people’s property.
A trader, Uchenna Nwachukwu, told Daily Trust on Sunday that the incident happened as the result of mismanagement by people he said were supposed to regulate and correct people from wrongdoing.
He said arresting and detaining hawkers or guide boys was not new in the market, the problem is how the matter was handled that day. He added that the victim had spent two weeks in the correctional centre, only to be arrested on that day by the leader of the taskforce identified as Musa.
“The boy was handcuffed and was in the process of being taken to the correctional centre again, but he found his way and fled. No one would have expected shooting against such culprit, but two correctional officials trailed the boy to a neighbourhood of Wuse Zone 5 and shot him. On the other hand, the police kept throwing teargas indiscriminately in every direction as traders were parking their goods into shops.
“That was how the teargas generated fire and burnt those shops down. I won’t shift the blame on others just because the affected shops are owned by my fellow Igbo people. It is known to everybody that it was police teargas that led to this fire on shops,” Nwachukwu said.
He noted that the said mob went after the buildings and vehicles belonging to the authorities, while trying to spare properties belonging to customers and traders.
He said the authorities provoked some traders by attempting to start collecting money at the gate from motorists on Wednesday after the market was reopened.
“Traders, especially those whose shops were burnt, got angry and started protesting. That was how the market was locked again,” he added.
When Daily Trust on Sunday went to the Wuse Zone 5 neighbourhood, just across the main road from the market, where the victim was reportedly trailed and shot dead, some eyewitnesses who preferred to remain anonymous said the victim arrived the area in handcuff and tried to hide inside a nearby fenced area that could be described as an undeveloped garden, but he was spotted by the two officials of the correctional centre who came after him. “The next thing we heard were gunshots,” one of them said.
Abba was later found dead after the officials left the area, an eyewitness further disclosed.
It was gathered that some boys took his lifeless body into the market and dumped it around the police station, a situation that led to protest.
Traders count losses
In terms of trading and gate toll charges, Wuse Market is the busiest in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT); hence traders and workers of all levels are counting their losses following the closure of the facility.
Some petty traders were seen stranded around the market during the past three days, while the big ones are completely keeping away from the facility and waiting for the government to announce the reopening date.
Daily Trust on Sunday further learnt that apart from traders whose shops were destroyed by the fire incident, petty traders that engage in perishable items and livestock like chickens, among others, are also counting their losses.
Rabiu Babangida, a trader in raw eggs, potatoes, yam and vegetables, who said he was able to access the market on Wednesday after it was temporarily reopened for few hours before it was shut down again, lamented that most of the goods he left at his kiosk were in bad condition. He said he did not make any effort to relocate the goods because he was not aware that the market would be closed again on that day.
“I left all my goods in the market as we were simply asked to leave,” he said.
Sunusi Murtala, a meat seller, said most of traders like him left their goods on their tables on the day of the incident. “I was only able to make a sale of N15,000 out of the meat I bought on that very day, amounting to N280,000.
“I couldn’t take the meat to the cold room before I ran for my dear life after I heard the gunshots on the day. And I was not around when the market was reopened on Wednesday. My uncle who was around at that time was able to locate my kiosk, but he told me that most of the meat I left had already gotten rotten due to heat,” Murtala said.
Also, a trader in fabrics, Hambali Abdullahi, said he was losing a lot of money because this period is the busiest for their business as people usually buy wrappers in bulk for their family members and other relatives, as well as the needy like orphans and widows.
He said the authorities should look into their plight and reopen the market, adding that there is the need to compensate victims of the unfortunate incident.
