Scores of petty traders at the Bola Ige International Market, Oyo in Ibadan on Thursday embarked on a peaceful protest against the plans by the Oyo state government and a contractor to demolish their shops.
The traders during the protest held within the premises of the market appealed to Governor Seyi Makinde of the state to prevail on the contractor to stop demolition of the shops in the market.
Our correspondent learnt that the state government and the contractor have concluded plans to demolish some shops, rebuild them and sell to interested traders.
But the traders during a peaceful rally and prayer in the market appealed to Makinde not to demolish their shops.
The petty traders among whom are aged men and women, youths and middle age persons, appealed to the governor to allow them to build the shops by themselves.
They said that they are using the shops to fed their families and train their children.
The traders who said that over 6,000 traders would be affected, advised the governor to order the contractor to stop demolition of shops in the market.
A petty trader, Alhaji Ismail Yusuf, who spoke on behalf of the traders, said that the traders staged the protest within the market so as to register their displeasure.
Yusuf said, “We are here to protest and pray against demolition of our shops. We are here to express our grievances against the plan by the state government and the contactor to demolish our shops.
“We appeal to governor Seyi Makinde, we want him to hear our voices. Some people came as developers to demolish our shops and rebuild them. We don’t want developers. We want to build our shops by ourselves.
“During the time of Alhaji Lamidi Adesina, he allowed us to use planks, during the time of Chief Rasidi Adewolu Ladoja, he allowed us to use containers. Governor Seyi Makinde said he want us to use blocks. We want him to allow us to do it by ourselves. We don’t want developer. The developer will exploit us. We want governor Seyi Makinde to intervene and come to our rescue”.
Deaconess Oluwatoyin Akinpelu, in her contribution, lamented that four people have died as a result of the planned demolition of the shops.
She appealed to the governor to allow the traders to build the shops by themselves.
“They want to take over our shops. Four people have died as a result of the one they did while some people have developed ailments. We appeal to the governor to allow us to build the shops by ourselves. We want him to allow us to use blocks to build the shops by ourselves.
In her own remark, Mrs. Moriyeba Babajide, appealed to the governor to approve the building of the shops by the traders.
“We want the governor to approve it for us to build the shops by ourselves. They should give us the sample and we will do it by ourselves. That is what we want. We don’t want any developer”.