By PAMELA EBOH, Awka

It was a gory scene at Johnson line, main market, Onitsha, Anambra State with forlorn faces of traders watching helplessly as their shops were pulled down by tractors on Monday.

The demolition exercise which was on the bidding of the state Governor, Prof Chukwuma Soludo took some of the traders by surprise as they had concluded it was not going to be demolished anymore because of the long delay.

Recall that the Governor had earlier this year hinted that some parts of the market especially shanties and those blocking the gutters and electricity lines would be demolished.

Addressing journalists on the matter, the Governor said that the goal is to make the market which is popularly known as the largest market in West Africa to be at par with big markets in other parts of the world and further create orderliness.

He had gone further to hold meetings with leaders of the market at the light House in Awka to acquaint them of his plans to rebuild and modernise the market.

Reeling out his plans during a press conference at the Light House, Soludo said the new main market will be devoid of shanties which gas made a mess of the market, fire service station, hospital, car park improvement on electricity and good network access as was part of the traders demands.

However, the demolition exercise did not go down well with some traders at the Johnsone line where the demolition exercise took place.

According to a trader who gave his name as Emeka, the demolition took them like a storm as they had already believing it will not happen again.

He said: “I didn’t see this coming. In fact, this started yesterday. A friend called me to come and evacuate the goods in my wife’s shop as a tractor has arrived the area.

“My wife almost collapsed in the kitchen out of fear when she heard the news. I called her down and we went together to the place and luckily her shop was not hit until this morning, it became obvious that her shop will not be spared.

“I almost paid for another shop around there to the tune of N10 million but somehow, I hold the seller to tarry a while, so we know the fate of the building first.”

He said that they are already out and about hunting for a new shop which he added is put at N3m.

Another trader who pleaded anonymity said that though they were earlier informed of the demolition, they became after some other areas were demolished while Johnson line was left behind.

He lamented the bad situation he has found himself, saying: “I don’t know where to go from here because I don’t have the huge money to buy shop.”

Meanwhile, a trader, Mrs Uche Ejiakor, who bought a shop in the demolished building three months ago for N3 million, regretted that her business was still at the fledgling stage.

She said: “How do I start again? I just bought a shop, here we are today, the shop is levelled down. The money is gone,” she added in tears.

The demolition exercise made the traders uneasy and majority who were not affected packed up and locked up their shops making the entire market deserted while some stood by to watch the demolition exercise.