Leaders from the northern community at the Lokpanta cattle market in the Umunneochi Local Government Area of Abia State have refuted any involvement of market traders in kidnapping and other criminal activities.
In a statement issued on Tuesday, the community’s spokesperson, Buba Abdullahi, expressed their lack of awareness regarding any decomposing bodies found in the forest near the market by security agencies, as announced by Governor Alex Otti on Sunday.
Governor Otti had disclosed that during a security agency raid, 50 lifeless bodies, including 20 decomposing headless bodies and skeletons, were discovered in the vicinity of the cattle market.
The governor also proposed plans to enclose the market and transform it into a daily market to reduce criminal activities in the area.
Nonetheless, Abdullahi, in a statement provided to our correspondent, emphasized that converting the market into a daily operation would effectively displace traders from the state.
He highlighted that the market, occupying an 80-hectare landmass, was allocated to the traders in 2005, with a trader population exceeding 15,000.
Abdullahi conveyed the northern community’s willingness to support the state government’s efforts to eradicate criminal activities in the market and appealed to the governor to permit them to continue residing in the market for their business operations.
He said, “If government will fence the market, demolish our houses and urge us to go and live in the neighbouring villages, it means the government has automatically chased us away from Abia State.
“We cannot live in the village because of the amount of cash we realise from our daily sales. We don’t have banks where we can deposit money around the market or the nearby villages.
“In the past, leaders of our community have supported the security agencies in identifying criminal hideouts close to the market, and demolition was carried out by the state government under the supervision of the former Commissioner of Police, Mrs Janet Agbede.
“It is obvious that we are victims of these crimes and criminalities and not accomplices.”
