South-East Traders condemns demolition of Oshodi market ;Demands for compensation from Lagos State Govt

The traders under the auspices of ,South-East Amalgamated Marketers Traders Association (SEAMATA) has condemned in its totality the demolition of Electrical and Electronics Market in Oshodi by Lagos state government.
The President of SEAMATA Chief Okwudili Ezenwankwo while reacting to the demolition yesterday in Onitsha said that Lagos state government did not give the traders time to remove their goods before moving bulldozers to pull down the shops.
He however, demanded for compensation from the Lagos state government to those traders that their shops and goods were destroyed during the demolition of the market which mostly affected the Igbo traders.
Ezenwankwo stated that the traders were not given enough notice and time to evacuate their goods before the demolition, stressing why only few days notice were given to the traders after which they were not allowed to enter the market.
The President also wondered why the demolition was carried out at the festive period when the traders traveled to their various home towns for Christmas and New Year celebration, saying that the government doesn’t have human face to destroy Igbo traders business.
He further stated that in as much as he supports the government in ensuring that the state was given a facelift, it should have done that gradually with human feelings, asking what will be the fate of those that lost their goods to the demolition.
According to him, “Lagos state should have given the traders more time to relocate their goods before demolishing the market. The traders there are mostly Igbos who traveled for the celebration, why did the demolition took place at their absent? What will be the fate of those that lost their goods. We condemn the demolition of the market now and demand for compensation to those that lost their goods to the demolition”.
But it was gathered that Lagos government had earlier given the traders notice to relocate to the new market built by the government which some of the traders denied.