FOLLOWING Tuesday’s shooting spree at the Ladipo International Auto Spare Parts Market in Lagos by some yet to be identified personnel of the Nigerian Air Force, hustle and bustle at the market were put on hold on Wednesday. All shops were closed and the few traders that showed up around the market wore grim faces.
Judging by the actions and words of the market leaders, the traders have an axe to grind with the military. The traders accused military men of being overbearing and using their uniforms to oppress and intimidate them despite the courtesies they extend to them anytime they come to the market. The Tuesday shooting incident was not the first spat between traders at the market and military personnel.
There have also been concerns over the attitude of traders, mostly from the eastern part of Nigeria, towards customers at the market. They are said to be in the habit of exhibiting aggression against customers who return goods on various grounds. There have also been reports of the sale substandard products at the market.
The leadership of the market has, however, denied reports that some members of the market’s task force physically assaulted the military personnel before they called for reinforcement and fomented trouble on the fateful day.
Trouble was said to have started on Tuesday after an air force officer returned a certain device that he bought about eight months ago and demanded a replacement. Some traders also accused the military men of inviting “Fulani people to terrorise” them.
Chairman of the Aguiyi Ironsi International Market, a section of the Ladipo Market, Chief Emmanuel Mbamara, spoke on the incident. He claimed that a 28-year-old trader, Felix, was killed by the military men. He said three others, namely, Chindinma Ifeanyi, Chikezie Nlewem, Makeup Ekkwuna and Ifeanyi Enyi, were hit by bullets from the guns of the military men and the victims were, as of Wednesday evening, still receiving treatment at the Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH).
Chief Mbamara said: “Yesterday, I got a report that soldiers were holding our market hostage. About 10 minutes later, the president called again to ask me what was happening in my market. I told him that I was not there and that it was, in fact, because of that that I was going to the Aguiyi Ironsi Market and I took a bike. When I got to Zenith Bank, it was like a war zone. People were running helter-skelter. They were running from the direction of the crisis while I was running towards the direction. They asked me why I was going to that place. ‘That thing is happening in your unit’, they said to me, and I told them that it did not matter; my people were there and we should all go there and die together.
“Immediately I entered the market, near that roundabout there (pointing to a direction in the market), I met the president-general and the DPO of Police Post and Olosan police stations. Out of curiosity, I had to rush down to the market because I got reports that many people had been hit by bullets. But when I got there, they had all been rushed to the hospital and I addressed my colleagues. After talking to them, I received a call that those military personnel who came to the market and perpetrated the shooting had been arrested by soldiers at the Armed Forces Resettlement Centre in Oshodi.
“They said that we should come down to that side. As I was going, I met Mr President who was also going in that direction and we went there together. When we got there, they began to ask questions. They were trying to change the narrative about what had happened. They were saying that we attacked the military men. With what types of weapons? We are bloody civilians. We deal in motor parts. How did we attack you?
“I looked at their vehicle and saw that two of our men were being held. That was when I flared up. I made them know that Ladipo Market was not Sambisa Forest and that they could not come to the market to kill our people and still arrest some of our traders. That was when they began to soft-pedal.
“A senior officer came from the Ikeja Air Force Base and demanded that with should come with him to their office. The president and I joined them in their vehicles and when we got there, they requested that we go into his private office which we did.
“There, I discovered that he was taking sides with his men. He told us that the officers were well trained and they don’t attack civilians; that maybe our men attacked them first. He also told us that his men had the authority to shoot instead of losing their guns.
“I want everybody to know that we are talking about an act of terrorism here. This is terrorism because they came here with Fulani men. They were speaking Hausa language and they were threatening to waste our lives.
“It is unbecoming of the military to come into the market to threaten us after buying and finding out that what they bought was not functioning well. We only give one-week warranty for any goods bought in the market.”
On the alleged sale of substandard products and returned goods, he said: “On our notice board, we wrote that products that are sold here have only one week warranty. When you buy things from us, under one week, you are covered by the warranty. There is a difference between warranty and guarantee. I cannot give buyers guarantee because I am not the producer. When you return the product before a week, we look for a way to fix it for you but when it is after a week, that is when people talk about being hostile at the market. When we buy, we don’t have any parameter to know if the engine or the item is okay or not. We incur a lot of losses at times.”
President-General of the market traders, Chief Jude Nwankwo’ said: “It is quite unfortunate. We have been facing series of problems with military men and I believe that this is the time that we are going to stop it. By the grace of God, a time will come at Ladipo Market when we will decide not to sell any vehicle spare part to any military man.
“It is getting out of hand for them to be taking the law into their own hands. We are talking about a kick-starter worth only about N3,500 and somebody has been killed and others receiving treatment in the hospital. We are going to take this matter to the highest authority to make sure that we get justice.
“Yesterday, we went to the office of the Nigerian Air Force. As military, they were trying to defend their officers and we told them that we were leaving their office to go and make reports at necessary places. As of yesterday, we had aired our view to them. It is quite unfortunate that soldiers will come into the market and start shooting at traders as if we are animals. The intimidation in the office was too much for us and we left.
“This morning, one of their commanders called me again and said that we should come over for another meeting but due to the situation here, we have decided to shut down the market in solidarity with our dead and injured colleagues. That is why we cannot go for the meeting. We are demanding for justice. We are not talking about money that has been lost here, we are talking about human lives.”
We are working to arrest the erring officers –Police
The police in the state confirmed the market shooting but denied that anybody died in the incident. They said there was only a report of three people being injured.
The Commissioner of Police, Hakeem Odumosu, said the police had begun investigation into the incident and that the command was working with the Nigerian Air Force to arrest the erring officers and prosecute them for “taking the law into their own hands.”
Odumosu said: “The issue at Ladipo, it is not true that three people died. Nobody died in the shooting and the three people that were injured are recuperating in the hospital. Nobody died in the incident. No life was lost.
“Meanwhile, we have commenced investigation into the incident. I have spoken with the Commanding Officer of the Nigerian Air Force Base on how to arrest the officers for taking the law into their own hands.”
We’ve resolved issues at Ladipo Market before –FCCPC
Head of public relations at the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC), Ondaje Ijagwu, in an interview with Saturday Tribune, claimed that the agency had in the past mediated in issues between consumers and traders at Ladipo Market.
He said: “We have resolved issues at Ladipo Market before, so the market is not out of our purview. You know, every consumer has rights under the FCCPC Act, and it is non-discriminatory.
“All that is needed to go to work is for the consumer, whose rights have been violated, to lodge a complaint. Once a complaint is lodged, we take it up. And the thing is that besides protecting the consumer’s right, if we find out that such complaints are common occurrences in the market, we will come up with a regulatory action to check that. But my advice is that individuals who patronise such market should be vigilant. Check and scrutinise whatever you are buying, because some don’t normally do.
“Besides, always demand for purchase receipt, and make sure the receipt is safely kept. For instance, without the purchase receipt, the seller of the product can always deny such transaction. And without the receipt, there is no way you can prove that the product was bought there, since the receipt, which would have served as the evidence, is not available.”
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