Protesters paralyse activities at Lagos Governor’s Office

By Olasunkanmi Akoni and Monsur Olowoopejo

LAGOS— ACTIVITES at Lagos Island Local Government and the Governor’s office, Alausa, Ikeja, were paralysed, Monday, as hundreds of Lagos Island Fashion Dealers Association members, protested over the continued closure of Breadfruit Street by Governor Babatunde Fashola.

This came as members of the State House of Assembly, urged the State Master Bakers and Caterers Association to come up with ways including sending a bill to House to check quackery in industry.

Chairman, House Committee on Health Services, Suuru Avoseh, gave the advice during a meeting between the Committee and association of Master Baker and Caterers, yesterday, at the assembly complex, Alausa, Ikeja.

The aggrieved traders who trooped to the streets as early as 9:00 a.m., marched through various streets on the ever busy Central Business District, CBD,, chanting anti- government slogans to express their displeasure over the continued closure of the street largely occupied by foot wears traders.

It would be recalled that fire gutted Euroasia Plaza, a five-storey building housing the traders and a branch of a commercial bank, on October 27, 2012, prompting the governor to order its immediate closure.

Some of the streets occupied by the traders affected by the closure include Martins Street, Broad Street, Balogun Street and others.

On Broad Street, the traders mounted road blocks and disrupted free flow of traffic.

The traders displayed placards with inscriptions such as: “We want our stalls reopened, Three months after Euroasia inferno, we are tired of sitting at home, Is there government in Nigeria, Our children are suffering, Please, Fashola, come to our aid and others.”

The traders said “all we want is for Governor Babatunde Fashola to order that our stalls  be re-opened for us to commence business activities.

The inferno wasn’t as bad as the Jankara fire-crackers explosion. And their market has been re-opened.”

Chairman of the association, Mr. Arinze Ugonabo, said “Since the incident, the government has relocated pupils of St. Paul Primary School on the street. But we have not been allowed to make use of our shops.

One would have expected the state government to compensate the traders, but what we received from the government was closure.

The traders later trooped to the Governor’s Office, Alausa, and barricaded the premises. They barricaded the entrance to the Governor’s Office and other roads, obstructing the free flow of traffic for several hours.