Ongoing Festac Market Demolition: Market Traders Speak.

Some traders affected by the ongoing demolition of Agboju Market in Festac Town, Lagos, have blamed market leaders for “insincerity” over the exercise.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that bulldozers moved in on Friday and began pulling down the structures in the market just as the traders started displaying their goods for sale.

Some of the affected traders told NAN that the issue of the demolition had been ongoing between the state government and the traders.

They, however, expressed shock over the exercise which occurred before the seven-day quit notice issued them expired.


Mr Uzo Thomas, a trader, said they assumed the demolition would be done on Monday after the notice elapsed on Sunday.

“To our surprise, Friday morning, we were displaying our goods, we just started hearing, ‘pack, pack,’ we thought it was a joke.

“Before we knew it, bulldozers started bringing everything down,” he said.

Also, Mrs Anulika Chukwu, trader, said last Thursday, officials of Amuwo Odofin Local Government came to warn the traders not to sell on the walk ways, which they complied with.

“If we had known beforehand, I wouldn’t have spent the money I had yesterday buying goods for sale,” she lamented.

However, some other traders said that the land where the market was situated was a buffer zone, with pipelines running underneath and electric cables overhead.

Mr Olawale Ashakaba, trader, said: “This is a Federal Government property, there are pipelines running under here.

“I believe there’s something our leaders are not telling us,” he said.