Mpape market remodelling: Traders clash over attempt to reclaim parking space
.Get one-week vacation notice
The ongoing remodeling of Mpape village market has spark unrest as
hundreds of aggrieved traders at the popular Mpape village market clashed with their colleagues allegedly working in synergy with authorities of the Bwari Area Council through the instrumentality of Shape Ideas Project ltd, a private developer overseeing the project.
The clash occured at the weekend, when authorities of the Bwari Area Council with through the instrumentality of the FCTA task team attempted to reclaim a section of the market reserved for the construction of a parking lot, fire and police station as part of the facilities for the market remodelling
Trouble started when leaders of those to be affected by the exercise exchanged heated banters with their colleagues cooperating with the government operatives to recover the said space, allegedly slowing down remodelling process.
While some aggrieved traders voiced their disapproval others resulted to rain of stones into the atmosphere, leading to a chaotic scene as people scampered for safety, thereby causing tension in the high densely area.
It’s took the intervention of the security operatives that accompanied the task team, who dispersed the surging crowd, and prevented the situation from escalating further, even as the exercise was deferred to another time, to allow for an amicable resolution for a hitch-free exercise.
Head of Logistics Bwari Area Council, Mr. Audu Amos, who spoke with newsmen , said the idea of remodeling the market in Bwari area council was conceptualised in 2005 during the reign of Nasiru El’rufai (former FCT Minister) who approved it for development and remodeling.
Amos added that sometimes , 2 years ago, when the ministerial taskforce cleared the place, because of security threats at Mpape, the Council was asked to go ahead and develop immediately.
He noted that after the Council asked its partners to move in, suddenly, it discovered that traders who were trading temporarily on the space revered for police and fire stations as well as parking bay came with court injunctions, which the Council authorities who went to court were able to vacate it.
He added that there are a lot of options for the would-be displaced traders, as there are facilities for ware houses and open air market activities in the place.
“As far as the area council is concerned, we are also ready to welcome them. Because they need us as much as we need them as we cannot develop the market and not have people to trade there.
“The chairman has called a meeting several times to look for a way forward and resolve this issue. But they are not forthcoming. If they are ready to come, we will be ready to welcome them.
“But the place should be cleared to pave way for what is meant for, it is already congested, and has taken over the whole road. And you can see the volume of heavy duty equipment’s applies to which is a risk to be by the road to trade.
“Based on what I heard, we have given them 1 week, and if they are willing to come up, we believe that by Monday or Tuesday, they should make an appearance to the office. And if they don’t come, we will still come and clear, so that peace may reign and there will be free flow of traffic”, he stressed.
Similarly, the CEO, Shape Ideas Project ltd, Dr. Mrs. Amunega Ajayi, said when the firm moved to the site to commence construction, the affected people pleaded that they be allowed to remain, pending when the space will be needed, then they would vacate for them to work.
This, Ajayi noted was a great the mistake the company made; as they now went to court and insisting that they have a right in the modern market, with over 300 shops and an open market for petty traders.
According to her: “When we were given the allocation to come and work here, they came to me that they don’t have anywhere else to go, that we should just allow them to stay in the market. I said fine when we finish building shops, they should vacate the car park. Unfortunately, that was a great mistake that we made at that time.
“So, we called that we have finished building the market, but we need to build the police station, a hospital in the market, fire service office in the market and even the civil defense office, but they said no that we are in court.
“The last time we went to court was on the 31st of January, 2020,they said they want a settlement with us. The judge said they should go and meet us for settlement, which they never did. They wanted us to stop work completely. But, on that day, the court vacated all orders to stop us from working. That was why we continued working in the site.”
However, one of the leaders of the aggrieved traders, who took the issue to court, Alhaji Awwal Abdul Dogo, said although at the court that they were told that their market allocations have expired, but they obtained a court order to carry on their trading activities at the site pending the settlement of the matter.
He said: “We were the ones local government gave allocation, we built our shops ourselves and at the end, local government said they want to collect the market, but we know we have our rights and document, so we took the matter to court.
“Three days after, we were back from the court, they brought task force to chase us away. I asked what we have done? It was not like they asked us for dialogue and we didn’t comply.
“But, now they said it’s dialogue they want, we are ready for that. They know our lawyer and we know their lawyer. We are ready to move out of that if that’s the conclusion of the court.”
On his part, former Chairman of the hitherto Mpape Village market, Alhaji Sa’edu Shuaibu Baru, said they were duly notified of the ongoing remodelling of the marketing the expiration of their temporary allocation, and the Council refusal to renew such.
Baru, who disclosed that while most of them have been cooperating with the government and the private developer, through which they are getting shop allocation to trade, a few recalcitrant traders have continued to insist taking over any available space within and around the market, thereby making it very unsafe for business.
