By PETER ANOSIKE

Igbo traders in Alaba International market, Ojo Alaba, Lagos State, have appealed to the state government to deliver them from the hands of touts who were making life unbearable for them.

In a statement made available to News Express, the traders said that the touts extort them, use different names like that of the Chairman of Ojo Local government area, the Oba, Baales, among others.

According to them, just between Volkswagen Bus Stop and Alaba Market, a distance of less than one kilometer, trucks carrying goods into the market are forced by the touts to pay more than N100.000.

The traders said that all the money they pay to the touts, none is receipted which made them illegal.

They added that whenever the truck drivers ask for receipt for the money they were paying, the touts would become violent and would start beating them and, at the same time, vandalizing their trucks.

They said that as law-abiding citizens, they could not take the law into their hands, hence the appeal to the Lagos State government to come to their aid.

“We, the Igbo traders in Alaba International Market, Ojo Alaba, Lagos, hereby make a passionate appeal to the government of Lagos state under the able leadership of Babajide Sanwo-Olu to come and deliver us from the hands of touts who are making life unbearable for us by extorting and vandalizing our goods. At every 50 metres between Volkswagen Bus Stop and Alaba Market, the touts would be there extorting money from truck drivers who are bringing goods that have been duly cleared at the port with all the duties paid to government. They tell truck drivers that N10,000 is for the local government chairman; N10,000 for the Oba, N5,000 for the Baale. If the truck driver wants to ask for receipt for the money, the touts would begin to beat him and, at the same time, vandalize his truck. When the driver pays, before he would drive another 50 metres, another group of touts would stop him and also ask for the same thing: ‘Owo Local government chairman, Owo Oba, Owo Baale’.

“This has become unbearable for us and as law-abiding citizens, we don’t want to take laws into our hands that is the reason why we are appealing to the Lagos State government to come and deliver us from the hands of these touts,” the statement reads in part.

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