…Says move to create space for parking, hospital, fire, police stations

Traders at the popular Maple village market in Bwari Area Council of the FCT have been given one week notice to vacate a section of the market reserved for parking lots, hospital, fire and police stations.

Officers from the FCT Task Force and the Bwari Area Council gave the notice at the weekend when they visited the market.

Hundreds of the traders at the market had clashed with their colleagues allegedly working in synergy with authorities of the Bwari Area Council through a private developer overseeing the ongoing remodelling of the market. They prevented the team from an attempt to reclaim a section of the market reserved for the construction of a parking lot, hospital, fire and police stations as part of the facilities for the market’s remodelling

Trouble started when leaders of those to be affected by the exercise exchanged words with their colleagues allegedly cooperating with the government operatives to recover the said space.

While some aggrieved traders voiced their disapproval, others resorted to throwing of stones, leading to a chaotic scene.

Speaking with newsmen, Head of Logistics, Bwari Area Council, Mr. Audu Amos, said the idea of remodelling the market was conceptualised in 2005.

Amos added that two years ago the ministerial task force cleared the place because of security threats in Mpape.

Similarly, the CEO of Shape Ideas Project ltd, the private developer handling the project, Dr. Mrs Amunega Ajayi, said when the firm moved to the site to commence construction, the affected traders pleaded that they be allowed to remain pending when the space would be needed.

She said, “When we were given the allocation to come and work here, they came to me that they didn’t have anywhere else to go, that we should just allow them to stay in the market. I said fine, but when we finish building shops they must vacate the car park. Unfortunately, that was a great mistake that we made at that time.

“So, we called that we had finished building the market but we needed to build the police station, a hospital in the market, fire service office in the market and even the civil defence office, but they said no that they were in court.

“The last time we went to court, they said they wanted a settlement with us. The judge said they should go and meet us for settlement, which they never did. They wanted us to stop work completely. But on that day, the court vacated all orders to stop us from working. That was why we continued working on the site.”

However, one of the leaders of the aggrieved traders, who took the issue to court, Alhaji Awwal Abdul Dogo, said although at the court they were told that their market allocations had expired, they obtained a court order to carry on their trading activities at the site pending the settlement of the matter.

He said, “We were the ones local government gave allocation, we built our shops ourselves and at the end local government said they wanted to collect the market, but we know we have our rights and documents, so we took the matter to court.

“Three days after we came back from the court, they brought a task force to chase us away. I asked what we had done. It was not like they asked us for dialogue and we didn’t comply.

“But now they said it’s dialogue they want, we are ready for that. They know our lawyer and we know their lawyer. We are ready to move out only if that’s the conclusion of the court.”

On his part, a former Chairman of the Mpape market, Alhaji Sa’idu Shuaibu Baru, said they were duly notified of the ongoing remodeling. (Daily Trust)

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