Mushin area of Lagos, southwest Nigeria. Ten suspected Bakassi boys were also arrested during the closure of the market. Officials of the Lagos State Taskforce on Environmental and Special Offences (Enforcement) Unit stormed the market as early as 4.00a.m and shut it because of the filth.
Last week, the Lagos State Commissioner for the Environment, Mr. Tunji Bello, visited the market and decried the wanton degradation of the environment and filthiness nature of the area and warned that if nothing was done, the market would be shut. The traders took the threat lightly and did nothing to remedy the situation.
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Hundreds of fully-armed taskforce officials led by its Chairman, Bayo Sulaiman, a Chief Superintendent of Police besieged the market and shut it down, with thousands of traders shut out. The traders were dispersed by taskforce officials with several canisters of teargas.
An Armoured Personnel Carrier (APC) was stationed at the Toyota end of the Apapa-Oshodi expressway while the area was barricaded. The traders said they were caught unaware as they never expected the market to be shut.
A trader, who craved anonymity, said, "We don't like the closure. It will bring suffer to us. We came in this morning and met our market shut and the police stopped us from entering. No notice was given to us and what are we going to do now?"
Another trader, who identified himself as Nduibuisi, appealed to government to re-open the market as the traders would lose lots of money.
Taskforce Chairman Sulaiman said the state government had lots of issues with the market, ranging from hooliganism, lack of toilet facilities, degradation of the environment with diesel and fuel as well as traders in the market turning themselves to another government.
"We came here two weeks ago, but the officials of the market did not show up. There is serious trading going on in the streets and there are lots of shanties here. We will make sure that this time around, proper sanitation is done by the traders before this market will be re-opened and they have to submit to the chairman of Mushin Local Government," he stated.
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