Traders at Pedro Police Officers Wives Association (POWA) market in the Shomolu area of Lagos state have appealed to Mrs Elizabeth Egbetokun, the wife of the Inspector General of Police, not to demolish their shops in the market.
The traders who spoke with journalists over the weekend said if the market is demolished, it will affect them all because that is where they take care of their family members.
A trader who gave her name as Abigail said most of the people in the market are widows without husbands to assist them.
“We were in the market on Monday and Tuesday last week when some people, including a white man, walked around the market and took pictures of the shops.
“One of the people who came to inspect the market told one of us that they are coming back by November to demolish and rebuild the market.
“We were also told after rebuilding it, it will be sold to us at five million nairas each, I mean the lock-up shops; our fear now is that what most of us are selling is not up to two hundred thousand talks less than three hundred thousand nairas. We are appealing to the Inspector General of Police, Kayode Egbetokun, to please talk to his wife and ask him to help us.”
Another trader, who didn’t want her name in print, said that four years ago, some people also came into the market to demolish and rebuild it, but they later stopped.
“We urge the IGP wife to consider us because the country’s economy is not friendly. We need a place to go if the market is demolished. It’s through what we sell that we are feeding our retired husband and children. We are begging.
“The Majority of us borrow money to start petty businesses in the market. When our husbands are not getting their retirement benefits on time, we feed them from what we sell. Since we saw those who came into the market, some of us have had our blood pressure triggered over fear of the demolition.
“We are appealing to IGP’s wife as our mother to please help us so that we don’t die of hunger. We also have widows among us who are struggling for survival. We eat from what we sell in the market.
“When some people came four years ago with the plan of demolishing it, some of us had a stroke because they just stocked their shops. We don’t want the repeat of what happened then, so we are begging the IGP’s wife to help us out on the matter.”
