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Wednesday, January 22, 2014

LAGOS STATE: Trader Stabbed To Death?

A trader has been stabbed to death as fresh crisis has erupted a Ladipo Auto Spare Parts Market in Mushin, Lagos State, southwest Nigeria.
P.M.NEWS learnt that the trader, simply identified as Sunny, was stabbed and he later bled to death during a fight that broke out at the market when some aggrieved traders stormed the market union’s office and chased the executives away.
The traders were calling for the dissolution of Ladipo Auto Central Executive Committee (LACEC), the central body of the union.
The aggrieved traders said that the leaders have breached all the agreement they had with the Lagos State Government when the market was closed before it was later reopened.
They feared that if the executives were allowed to remain in office, the state government might close the market again to their disadvantage.
The traders listed some of the offences as street trading, parking on roads and collection of illegal tolls, using thugs to harass and intimidate traders and customers.
The traders alleged that the problem worsened after the LACEC president, Mr Ikechukwu Animalu, travelled abroad without informing the stake holders of the market and handed over the management of the market to people of alleged questionable character who were extorting money the traders.
P.M.NEWS learnt that the protest later resulted in fracas between the two groups which caused the death of Sunday.
The police at Olosun Division later recovered the body of the victim and deposited it at an undisclosed mortuary in Lagos.
Confirming the developing, the wellfare officer, LACEC, Chief Ajuluchukwu Ezeanya, said some traders stormed the union office and disrupted their activities by chasing the executives and the BOT members away from the office.
Ezeanya said the traders’ allegations were unfounded as the executives were doing their best to maintain law and order in the market
He alleged that the traders were fighting for their selfish interest.
He said that the Anambra State government gave traders of the market a vehicle but the aggrieved trader wanted the president of the union, who has travelled abroad to sell it and share the proceeds of the sale among them.
He said that the traders rose up against the union executives when the president refused to sell the vehicle.
The BOT chairman, Chief Innocent Ejike, also confirmed that the group was agitating for the removal of the executives from office, but assured that the BOT have stepped in to settle the matter.
The president could not be reached because he has travelled aborad.
When P.M.NEWS visited the market, there was tension there as some of the executives have withdrawn from the market and some were apprehensive about what will happen next.
Meanwhile, P.M.NEWS gathered that one of the union leaders and embattled president of Agu-iyi Ironsi International Trade Centre, Chief Jonathan Okoli, had a ghastly motor accident.
According to sources, Okoli, who is in critical condition and has been confined to a wheel chair, has been flown abroad for medical treatment.
Source: PM News

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