State counterpart, Senator Hope Uzodimma

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Giving updates about over 30 buildings that were demolished on ARISE News Channels yesterday, Amajuoyi disclosed that the traders at the Alaba market “are going to fight for the demolition of their buildings legally. We are going to pursue it legally.

“I do not see how they will tell us that this place does not belong to us because it is close to the canal. At the end of the day, they demolished and handed over the place to somebody else to develop.”

The president of the market, also, challenged Sanwo-Olu to give the affected traders access to reclaim their land so that they could build based on the structural plans of the state government

He added that the state government “should help our brothers that were affected in the demolition. They do not have means of livelihood again. The state government should come up with palliative measures that cushion the hunger their families are facing.

“They should help them re-establish and rent shops again. As it stands now, they are out of business. We are seeking compensation for them. Honestly, peace has returned to a certain percentage of Alaba Market. But the scale of the wound is still there.

“People are feeling the pain. People are still crying because that demolition has pushed many people out of their businesses. I know most of the affected people are suffering because they have no place to sell their goods,” Amajuoyi explained during the interview.

Contrary to reports, Amajuoyi disputed claims that the buildings were obstructing canals and drainages, pointing out that the structures were never built on the drainage alignments as claimed.

He acknowledged that there were “about five or six buildings that were distressed along the corridor. Those are the buildings that the state’s enforcement officials marked for demolition. When the enforcement operatives came for demolition, we were surprised that they demolished all the buildings.

“It was not true that 17 buildings were demolished. Based on our assessment, no fewer than 30 buildings that were demolished including the shops that had nothing to do with canals and drainage. They went on and demolished all these buildings.”

Amajuoyi dismissed claims that the demolition was politically motivated, though linked it to some business interests, who had secured government approval to develop the place and sell it to the traders.

He said: “We, in Alaba Market, never believe that the demolition is political. Rather, the demolition is as a result of interest. There are some developers that the affected buildings have been sold to.

“These things were coming to us as speculations until the day we saw their leaflets that show the kind of structure they planned to build there and the amounts they are going to sell each shop.  They said the ground floor will be around N18 million while the first floor will be around N13 million.

“It is not true that the buildings were demolished because they obstructed drainages. They have shifted that canal from where it was originally situated. They have some construction that extends the canals so far.”

He also lamented that the Alaba International Market Association was not represented in the joint peace and reconciliation committee that the state government set up to look into issues around the demolition.

Amajuoyi observed: “The committee, I strongly believe, was constituted in a haste because the people that made up the committee are not doing business in Alaba Market. They do not know what actually happened.

“One of them that claimed to be representing us went on air and said the buildings that were demolished blocked canals. That is not true. The buildings never blocked canals. The only thing was that there were about six buildings that were distressed,” he explained.