By Monsur Olowoopejo

All seem not to be well at the popular Ladipo market in Oshodi, Lagos State. This is because, the more than five thousand traders in the market are said to be living in perpetual fear of a female Deputy Commissioner of Police serving in Lagos State Command.In fact, both the officials of the traders association and their members, were said to have been dragged to various police stations in the state over trumped up charges allegedly orchestrated by the female Police boss. To worsen their plight, business activities in the market had been disrupted severally by a team of armed policemen allegedly acting on the orders of the female Deputy Commissioner of Police who ended up accusing the leader of the traders as trying to bomb the market. So far, an uneasy calm has pervaded the entire market as fears of police raids and indiscriminate arrests grip traders.

Traders at Ladipo Market and Mr Okoli

Narrating their pathetic plight to Crime Alert over the week, the President of Ladipo Market Association, Mr. Jonathan Okoli said both the members of the executive and other traders are living in constant fear as the Deputy Commissioner of Police and her son have kept on terrorizing them all because the traders are resisting their attempts to hijack ownership of the market. Mr. Jonathan Okoli alleged that the female police boss has frequently used her office to send men of the Nigeria Police Force to arrest the market executive members and further disrupt business activities. According to him, “We are raising this alarm because the threat has gotten to a stage where we can no longer withstand it. While the woman was in Abuja, she constantly used her office to write series of letters to the Inspector General of Police to issue several arrest warrants to the Crime Investigative Department, CID, Panti to arrest me and other executive members.

“We know that she wanted to use her official post to hijack the ownership of the market despite the leasing agreement signed between the traders and Paramount Ventures-the official company in charge of the property,” the President asserted.

He stated that the leasing agreement between the traders and paramount ventures is expected to last for 25 years, beginning from 2005 when the market was officially commissioned emphasizing that, “after the agreement, we paid allocation fees to the company. We used our money to build the shops. Why is she (the female Deputy Commissioner of Police), laying claim to a property that does not belong to her? Okoli noted that the DCP and her son have been the brain behind the corruption allegation levelled against the leadership of the market.

“Since 2006, the DCP has been laying claim to the ownership of the market, saying the market belongs to her and her late husband. Last two weeks, armed policemen came to the market to forcefully take me to their station. When I got there, while the interrogation was going on, they told me that I should shift ground to allow joint leadership of the market. They also made false allegation that I wanted to bomb the market. If not the way I am handling the situation, it would have escalated,” Okoli asserted.

Incidentally, while the President of the market association and his officials were busy addressing reporters over their plight, a team of armed policemen stormed the market and insisted on taking them away. They (the Policemen) were however prevailed to change their stance after they were presented with documents showing that the case that brought them was already in court.

Meanwhile, leaders of the market have concluded plans to send a strongly worded petition to the Inspector-General of Police, Hafiz Ringim over their plight. It was gathered that the traders are waiting for the elections to be over before taking their case to Abuja. They however appealed to both the Inspector-general of Police and Governor Fashola of Lagos State to call the female police Commis-sioner to order before things get out of hand in the market.