By Ifeanyi Okoli

*I’ve lost all my life’s savings in a bid to prove my innocence…
The embattled President of traders at Aguiyi Ironsi Complex, Ladipo market, Lagos, Jonathan Chibuzor Okoli has, just like a cat with nine lives, passed through a lot of tribulations and pains, all in a bid to remain the leader of traders in the market. He claims he has spent not less than two years in prison custody and police cells while being dragged from one police station to another on alleged trumped-up charges. Also, he said he has lost all his life savings in a bid to prove that he is innocent of the charges preferred against him from those he alleged wants to take over the leadership of the market.

In this interview, he opened up on the genesis of the crisis at the market and the role of female Commissioner of Police. He also proffered solutions to the crisis which has plagued the market for long. Excerpts:

Jonathan Okoli, Leader, Ladipo market

How he assumed office
I left this country April 1st 1991, to Japan to hustle for greener pastures. I stayed there for about ten years. After that, I came back to my country. I brought in containers of fairly-used vehicle parts and motorcycles into Nigeria. While I was looking for shops for my goods, I found out that there was a project going on at No 2, Akinwumi street, Ladipo. They showed me the flier that you could pay some allocation fee, it would be built and you own the property. So, I told my lawyer to study it and find out if it was real and original from the state and local government. I invested a lot of money at the site. I own block 17 in that market. The value of the building now is at N150million. I also have several other buildings and shops in the market.

Later, after the commissioning by the then Governor of Lagos State, who was represented by his deputy, although I wasn’t in the country, I came back after a month. Suddenly, a female Commissioner of Police came with the Police and OPC to take over the affairs of the market. As a result, crisis erupted there, and I was not in Lagos , I had to come back as the crisis lasted. We petitioned the Lagos State Government and a lot of meetings were held at Alausa. A memorandum of understanding that a 13-man committee should go and conduct election for the traders in that market was signed.

Cause of protest
The protest was because the woman started claiming the ownership of the market. The Igbos who built the shops and the buildings in the market said No… “ We are the ones who built, not you, not your husband. There was an agreement we entered with the company which gave us rights as the owners of the properties. So, we want you to respect that agreement; you cannot take it by force…” The crisis lasted for about three months,and the market was shut down on June 26, 2006. The traders suffered huge losses which affected their daily income and sustenance.

Okoli

After that, we appealed to Lagos State Government and they reasoned with us and reopened the market. After that, the 13-man committee was mandated to go and conduct the election, register the association for the traders so that the traders would have their leaders. Consequently,the market was reopened. The committee took over the leadership of the market for a couple of months and organised the election which I emerged as the president out of five that contested. But the woman did not relent using the Police to intimidate us with various charges at police stations in Lagos State. Later, we appealed to the governor of the state, but no response came.

On May 28th, 2011, she met me at the C.P’s office, State Command, Ikeja. She ordered some Police men to arrest me. I asked them what was my offence and they said there was a petition against me. I followed them to the office,and told them the matter was in court—and if a matter is in court, the Police should respect the rule of law. They insisted that I must make statement. I said I’ve made a statement at SCID, Panti, concerning the matter. They said I should make another one, which I did.

After they listened to me, the woman was there, and also her son. They asked her that this thing you are saying is a market problem, can’t you settle with this people? I told the Police to ask her son what he wanted? The son said he wanted 50% of what is going on in the market. I said I would discuss with the traders, that I am only their leader, if they say we should give you everything, we would comply. After about 9pm, they allowed me to go. When I left the place, they asked us to come back in three days. On the third day, they ordered me to come with two of my executives, and the other man should come back with two people from his company. Eventually, when we got there, we saw some Igbos he was using to make trouble in the market. They were everywhere. I went with two of my people as I was instructed.

Threat to my life
We were at the State Police Command from around 8am till 7pm. When the Deputy Commissioner of Police came, he said he was going to Alausa for a meeting but he would be back to end the matter. I was uncomfortable as I discussed with my people that DCP said he would end the matter he had heard nothing about. I asked some of the executives to stay back because I sensed danger. I was on my way home when one of the executives, Emeka Eze called me, that the EFCC was in the compound looking for me.This made me remember the threat of the female Commissioner of Police when we (two of my executives) went to appeal to her to allow peace reign in the market. Based on this,I petitioned the Force Headquarters, Abuja, and the petition was forwarded back to Zone Two to investigate. They asked us to come for an interview and investigation.

Attacked by men in police uniform
The next morning, I went to the market. In the evening, I was going home, near Five Star bus-stop, I saw a white Hilux pick-up van, it was Police with their siren following me.I had to park by the side for them to go but they blocked me, reversed , came down, shot at all the my tyres. They also fired inside the vehicle. Then I opened the door and came out. I was asking them, “what is it? They told me that they were anti-robbery squad. I asked them how may I help them? They asked for vehicle particulars, I said look at the particulars. They said that’s by the way; I asked if it’s about the problem at the market. I dipped my hand inside my pocket and brought out a copy of the petition we submitted. I said look, the IG had directed Zone 2 to look into this matter. They said which IG? I said we have only one IG.

One of them came close and looked into the paper. He said you are challenging our madam, the next thing, they all started speaking Hausa language. I don’t understand Hausa, so I was just looking at them. They opened fire on me. They shot and shot, I was confused. I then ran for my life. Many people were hit by their bullets. Later, when they saw that people were falling, they left. By the special grace of God, the bullet did not touch me.

Fortunately, one of the guys who laid on the ground used a camera phone to record what happened at the scene. We came back and used a tricycle to carry some of the people to the hospital. I called Oloso Police station and the Area Commander, Mushin to inform them. I waited there for about two-three hours before Police came from Oloso. They gathered pellets of bullets that were scattered on the ground. I followed them to the station and made statement.

When the Area Commmander called later, he was doubting the identity of the people that attacked me but I told him that it’s only the Police that use that vehicle, and they were dressed like the MOPOL without names, only the cap they wore showed they were officers. He said they were not Police officers, that they might have disguised themselves. That made me leave Lagos. The ugly incident was widely publicised.

Okoli

Then we put another petition because I know the source of the attack. Later, we were invited by the then Inspector-General of Police, Hafiz Ringim and after listening to our plight, he directed the then DIGs, Ivy Okoronkwo and Azubuko Udah to look into the matter. The DIGs swore to get to the root of the matter because there was no smoke without fire. After they listened to us they asked us to come down to the market and bring our proposals asking what would be done so that peace would return to the market.

We presented our proposals , more than 30 traders from Lagos went to Abuja for it. Thereafter nothing happened again. I was pressuring them to do something about the case, because my life was in danger. Later they called us again, and asked us not to go to the Police for anything; that if any of us go to the Police for anything, that they would deal with that person; that they were going to resolve the matter, that we should go back to Lagos and trade on, that we would hear from them.

Police invasion
We were in Lagos doing business for about a month, and on a Sunday, Police invaded my house. Unfortunately for them, I wasn’t around. They went to the market, forced the gate open, the security man ran away. When they were firing in the air, the security man jumped the fence and ran. They caught one of the security officers and took him to the office of the Federal SARS at Adeniji Adele. Our Chief Security Officer, a retired Army Captain, Ogbonna, went there to see them. When he got there, they told him that I’m the one they were looking for; that they would not release the captain until they see me. They even detained the captain till the next day before they released him. So, when Captain came back, he told me I should run out of Lagos that these people said they wanted me dead or alive.

Based on this development, I went to court for fundamental human rights and they ordered that nobody should touch me. Then I surfaced, started coming to the market, but I couldn’t go to my house because I was afraid of b
eing attacked again.Yet, they succeeded in tracing me to the guest house where I was staying and arrested me. They took me to Adeniji -Adele. I was there for about a week before my lawyer came up.

He told me that the very first day I was arrested, he came there but they didn’t allow him to see me. So, he went back to the court and got the order that we should appear on November 8th because they arrested me on November 4th, 2011. After that, my lawyer went back to the court and the court summoned them to bring me. The next thing I saw, they brought a notice taking our pictures that we were armed robbers.

Immediately, they got me on November 4, November 5, they invaded the market, overthrew the leadership, and arrested 46 of the traders and those that worked with the union. Some people managed to escape. They brought everybody to Adeniji- Adele with cutlass, matchets and bottles because the thugs stationed at the market helped them to stab and do everything. So everybody was there. When I saw them, I was crying. After sometime, the court still brought another order for them to bring me to court that Friday.They were planning how to convince the court that we are armed robbers.

When it failed, they hatched another plan by forcing all the ardent supporters of our cause to enter into agreement that they should not come to the market if they released them. They collected money from their families who came to see them. So they arrested 13 of us, and took us to court. Instead of taking me to Ikeja High Court that demanded to produce me, which also had the jurisdiction to look into the case, they went to Magistrate’s court to remand us. But our union lawyer tried.

He explained to the Magistrate that this was market politics, that these people had taken over the market and put another people. They charged us for illegal possession of fire arms and a lot of things we didn’t know about. It was in the court that we saw they charged us for arms possession. When our lawyer was able to explain to the Magistrate, he granted us bail. We went to Ikoyi prisons, perfected our bail and came out. We spent a total of 17 days at Ikoyi prison.

Change of baton
When I came out, they had taken over our leadership. I said it’s of no use going into the market because they would come with another charge. I went back to Abuja on December 2011 and complained to the IG with a petition. Police Headquarters invited the female Commissioner but she denied everything. After listening to us, the IG said I should go back to Lagos. That was how I came back to Lagos on December 22, 2011. On December 23, 2011, I went to Lagos State Commissioner’s office and put a letter that I would be going back to market. When they stamped the letter, I went back to the market. On getting to Ladipo, people spotted me and gathered around. Policemen were all over the market.

The traders saw me, everybody was rejoicing, buying drinks . So, I addressed them and I went back to my building but they had broken everything. My office was scattered, up till today. Surprisingly, the market was closed down again immediately after I came back. We went to court because the matter of the market leadership was
at Igbosere High Court. We went back to the same court and complained that Mushin Local Government had set up a committee to take over the leadership of the market.

MD Abubakar, Police IG

By law, they have the authority to get revenue from the market, but not to take over the association which was registered. Then the court gave orders that nobody should take over the market which the incumbent leadership was in court to determine the motion on notice. That motion has not been determined up till today. I had earlier told the local government to come and help us organise elections so that anybody that wins would be the leader of the market. What they do is to normally use one government agency or the other to shut down the market over one flimsy excuse or the other. We protested even to the state House of Assembly without success.

Another invasion
They invaded the market again on March 5,after the burial of Ojukwu, and this time, the Chairman came to impose on people he called real owners of the market, and they(traders) reacted. He came with armed military men and police Black maria. When he saw the impossibility of his action, he unleached some thugs armed with dangerous weapons on the traders. I knew I was the target and I cleverly escaped. Everyone ran helter-skelter. Some of them left in Police vehicle. We took our people to the hospital,and they hosptalised for about a month. We expected the Police after we made statements to start arresting these people but they did not.

Back to Police headquarters
On April 7, I went to Abuja to write a petition. On the 8th, we were before the IG, M.D Abubakar. He saw the picture and was angry. He asked us what happened and we explained. He signed the petition and asked the Police to report back within two weeks. After one month, Alagbon called us and we went and made statements. They started their own investigations. They invited Mushin Local government Chairman. It took him two months before he could go. He told them he was in his office when the thugs I brought from Bakasi did these things, not knowing that Alagbon had interviewed these people and they told them what happened. They asked him to produce the thugs and uptill date, he could not produce them.

Back to court, prison
I was in the village when they called that they want to see me. I came back to Lagos in a night bus, went to the office and on getting there, they told me I would be having a meeting with the Lagos state Commissioner of Police. They took me in their vehicle to the Commissioner’s office and I explained what happened, showing him the pictures of what they did. After everything, he told me he wanted a thorough investigation into the matter.

He said I should follow the people to Panti for the investigation. When we got there, they started asking me questions. I was shocked when they presented all the evidence of their destruction in my stalls and at the market including pictures of those they wounded during their raids as evidence against me claiming that I perpetrated the acts. Even the investigators saw this but their hands were tied.

They were afraid to release me after discovering my innocence. After ten days of being detained, my lawyer fought for my fundamental right, they rushed me to Ebutte-Metta High Court. The person they accused me of having misunderstanding with someone. They also pleaded with the Judge not to allow me into the market. When he questioned the accusations against me, they moved the case to Ikeja. I waited in jail for another one month.

There at Ikeja, the Judge said he had enough reasons to grant me bail and I was granted bail. Some of the bail conditions was that I should not parade myself as the leader of the market again. I signed this and came out on February 19, 2013. The next thing, they closed the entire Ladipo market again around March, because I had filed to go back to the market.

After the closure, the local government Chairman and his men broke the gate and arrested the security officers, paraded them on television and newspapers, calling them Bakassi boys, who were used to maim people. Monday Ubani was the lawyer we used to go after this case because the thing was so bad. Two of of those security men spent about two months at Badagary prison before they were released.

Traders not divided
Some people say Igbos in the market are divided.No it’s not the Igbos, the people they are using are touts,those that have nothing in the market. Traders cannot protest because they have stationed armed mobile men all over the market. Nobody wants to suffer like me.

For justice to prevail
I want Lagos State Government to see reasons why justice should prevail in this case— Yoruba, Igbo,Hausa are all Nigerians—and we have our rights; unless if one goes against the law of the state, the culprit should face the law. The state government and other stakeholders should find out the truth from what the female Commissioner of Police and the local government Chairman are presenting to them are all fabricated stories. Let them conduct a new election. The Governor had set a committee to look into this matter, called ‘Ndi-Igbo Lagos’.

Ndi-Igbo Lagos has come out with their blue print that they would dissolve the exco but until I come out and hand over to them, they will not conduct the election. That’s the only way peace will be restored.