The trouble lurking at the Amuwo
Odofin local government area owned Shopping Complex located at Mile 2 in Lagos
State, may blow out of proportion and could spell doom for the operators of the
market as market women took to the streets protesting alleged terror and
mistreatment, stripped to their under wears, on April 27, chanting solidarity
songs against tyranny and oppression.
The cause of the trouble is a certain man, Alhaji Saheed
Abiola, otherwise known as Zyad 1 Ultimate, whom the traders say has been
unleashing a reign of terror on them using his band of thugs and miscreant. Read more
According to the market women, Abiola has been making life
uneasy for them by imposing unreasonable levies on them, sending his thugs to
beat them, having arrogated so much power to himself, even though he was a
member of the executives of the market.
The traders in the market said that one of the crimes the
man was best known for was ordering his thugs to strip traders and flog them
publicly to serve as deterrent to others. Abiola was said to have so cowed many
of the traders, that they treat him as a thin-god and anyone who dared to
confront him, paid dearly for their effrontery.
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One of the traders said in anger:
"We can no longer do our businesses in the market for
fear of being attacked by thugs loyal to Abiola. The men among us have refused
to join the protest for fear of being beaten up by Abiola’s thugs. These thugs
used to pounce on any trader who dares to challenge him."
The Iyaloja of the market, Catherine Omotoyosi Awhidhire,
said that Abiola sent his thugs to beat her up, inflicting injuries on her back
and breast.
"He has now taken to flogging aged traders, not caring
about their frail health and bodies. He used to boast that he has the police in
Festac in his pocket and that nobody would be able to do anything to him.
He used to drop names of important people to further cow the
traders. He’s mostly fond of dropping Senator Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s name!"
But the unrepentant Abiola who said he got into the market
as a load carrier until he took over leadership of the market, had this to say:
"Babaloja and other traders are only envious of me
because of the way I have been generating money. I’m not among the executives
of the market, but I’m a major stakeholder in this market.
Since I assumed leadership of the market, things have
started moving on well. I don't flog the traders. Anybody who gets flogged
could be because they are stubborn and do not pay their levies."
Students of history in Nigeria will know that whenever women
strip down to make any form of protest, there is always an ugly repercurssion.
The Aba Women Riots in 1929 where women protested against
the British colonial masters naked brought a lot of changes in the society.
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