Traders at the Tarmac phone and digital market in the Panseke area of Abeokuta, Ogun State, experienced confusion when heavily armed policemen arrived at the market and instructed them to vacate the premises. The police claimed there was a court order for the traders to leave the area.
Upon visiting the market, it was observed that there was a significant police presence, and the traders could be seen gathered around their locked shops.
Some of the traders mentioned that they had been facing ongoing challenges with land grabbers who were pressuring them to leave the market, jeopardizing their businesses.
One trader, Akeem Oyeyemi, stated that the police arrived early on Friday and presented them with a court order, which they were not previously aware of. The situation has left the traders in a state of uncertainty regarding their businesses and livelihoods.
“What happened was that this morning around 5 a.m., we received a call that about 200 policemen had invaded the tarmac with about 20 cars which our chairman also informed us that we should start coming. At around past 6am, we were all gathered here and went to the Olubara’s palace.
“From the palace, we came back here to meet the police to ask what happened. On getting here, the police showed us a court order asking them to lockup Tarmac but we told them that there was no notice of any court order given to us because we believed that if there was be need to lock this place up, we should be informed but we did not know anything.
“So we decided that we should be allowed to open our stores but the police started shooting which made everyone to run for their lives. Till this moment we were not allowed to open our stores,” Oyeyemi said.
Another trader who spoke on condition of anonymity noted that there had been a recurring issue of land grabbers coming to the market to ask them to evacuate the market.
She said, “This is not the first time some people who are land grabbers has been coming to this market to ask us to leave but we will later heard that our leaders has settled with them. The thing is becoming worrisome and it is affecting our business.”
Efforts to obtain a response from the chairman of the market association, Ifebola Togunwa, were unsuccessful, as he did not respond to calls and messages.
Furthermore, when the Ogun State Police Command Public Relations Officer, Omolola Odutola, was contacted via WhatsApp chat and informed that our correspondent was at the scene of the incident with pictures, she had not responded by the time of reporting.
Earlier in the week, it was reported that the Ogun State House of Assembly alleged that some policemen in the state were colluding with land grabbers to unlawfully arrest and detain innocent members of the public. The Speaker of the Assembly, Olakunle Oluomo, had called on the Inspector General of Police to intervene in the matter and address the issue of illegal arrests and detentions.
