8th March, 2016
Cyriacus Izuekwe
A section of Ladipo market called Odo Aladura in Lagos State, western Nigeria, was Tuesday morning demolished by unidentified persons suspected to be thugs who attempted to demolish it recently before traders prevented the thugs.
P.M.NEWS gathered that the suspects invaded the market in the morning around 3:00 a.m. and demolished the entire market and hurriedly left before the traders got to the market in the morning.
Traders’ goods kept in the various shops worth millions of naira were destroyed.
Before the traders got to the market Tuesday morning, the whole shops had been reduced to rubble.
There had been crises for some weeks after the same thugs invaded the market and attempted to demolish it but the traders mobilized themselves and chased the thugs away.
That invasion of the market resulted in serious fracas between the traders and the thugs during which many traders sustained injuries.
One of the traders, Anene Utasi, was attacked with a machete and also shot. He was rushed to LUTH where he eventually died.
This sparked another round of violent protest and many shops and other properties believed to belong the leader of the thugs were destroyed.
It took the intervention of the Lagos Commissioner of Police, Mr Fatai Owoseni before the situation was brought under control.
Following the death of Utasi, Owoseni ordered the arrest of Cemetery Attendant, Monday Lawrence and other suspected thugs who were behind the death.
Lawrence was yet to be arrested when thugs invaded the market in the early hours of Tuesday and demolished over 2,000 shops, destroing goods worth millions of naira in the shops.