Traders of Suru-Alaba Market, located along the Lagos-Badagry Expressway on Tuesday stormed the Alausa, Lagos State seat of power to protest against what they described as continuous extortion, including threat of closure and re-construction of the market.
The traders, made up mostly of women who came in their hundreds, arrived at Alausa in six coaster buses chanting solidarity songs and calling on the Lagos State Government to rescue them from continuous extortion by their market leaders who are feeding fat on them through collection of one illegal levy or the other.
The traders are also demanding that the Lagos State authority should clarify the issue making the rounds that the market had been earmarked for reconstruction when in actual fact they have already concluded plans to fence the market as it is being done in other markets along the expressway.
They said the market leaders, otherwise known as members of Suru-Alaba Market Committee, do not involve the heads of the traders union in their decision making process as stipulated in the constitution.
Speaking to newsmen, spokesman of the traders, Albert Ezenwa, accused the Suru-Alaba Market Committee of not adhering to the rules stipulating that all heads of union of the market are automatic members of the committee and should be part of any meeting process.
Ezenwa said: “Since after their appointment as new leaders of the market committee last year, they have not allowed the union heads to be part of the meeting. They enter meetings in secret and refuse to take us along on important decisions that affect we the traders. The irony of it is that 60 per cent of these leaders are not traders. They just come to the market, sit under a canopy throughout the day.”
Ezenwa is the head of pork sellers in the market complained.
He said last year, the leaders tasked the 56 unions in the market N10,000 each, which amounted to N560,000, for the purchase of New Year gifts for government officials they did not know.
He added that their refusal to pay the money, because it on a high side, led to the leaders inviting officials of Kick Against Indiscipline to close the market for a one week on a framed up environment hazard.
Ezenwa added: “Many of us, mostly those selling perishable goods, lost thousands of Naira as our goods got spoilt in the process. Beside, millions of Naira was lost for forcing us to stay out of our business place for a whole week. While they were insisting we must still pay N10,000 illegal levies for New Year gift, they later came up with another obnoxious demand that we should come and pay them N2.5 million they paid to KAI for re-opening the market.
“But on our investigation at KAI office at Layeni, Ajegunle, an officer who did not want his name in print informed us that they collected only N500,000 from the leaders. Despite our appeal to them to reduce the amount so that we can afford it, the leaders refused and threatened to close the market finally if we refused to pay both N10,000 per union for New Year gift due and the N2.5 million for re-opening the market after the closer.”
Ezenwa said as they were deliberating on the issue, the leaders came with the idea of re- constructing market.
They said they had concluded plans with the Chairman of Amukoko Council Area to destroy and re-construct the market.
He argued that there was never a time they discussed the re-construction of the market, stressing that the plan they arrived at was to fence the market as it is being done in Orile Market, which is on the same expressway with Alaba Suru Market.
“We are here particularly with the news making the round about the reconstruction of the market because we do not want to be caught unaware. We want to hear from the horse’s mouth, which is Lagos State government,” Ezenwa said.
Meanwhile, some of the traders who spoke to our correspondent were afraid that the idea to reconstruct the market is the handiwork of the market leaders who want them to deprive them of their shops, hence it would be sold to their favourites who would later come up with obnoxious prices for rental.
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