LAGOS: LAHA Orders Investigations, Relocation Of Mile-12 Market

LAGOS State House of Assembly has called on the Lagos state government to consider the relocation of Mile 12 Market on Ikorodu Road to another location that would be more conducive and secured as a way to avert the incessant violence that had rocked the market.

The lawmakers appealed to the State governor, Mr. Akinwunmi Ambode to immediately constitute a panel of inquiry into the crises that led to the loss of lives and properties worth several millions of naira and left many people injured. The lawmakers’ positions included a motion for the relocation of Mile 12 and Owode-Onirin Markets to another location where good structures would be put in place towards ensuring peaceful co-existence of all the stakeholders.

Whilst commiserating with the bereaved families, the Lagos lawmakers emphatically slammed the security personnel particularly the soldiers over nonchalant attitudes displayed as the crisis went adding that rather than discharging its duty to contain the disaster, the ostensibly encouraged it to escalate leading to the monumental loss recorded.  

The Speaker of the Lagos House of Assembly, Hon Mudashiru Obasa in his speech stated that the relocation of the market to a more conducive place with a structure in place and modern security gadgets should by now become a priority of the state government towards averting future occurrences noting that the security agencies stationed in the market over the years have not been able to put a stop to the reoccurring ethnic clashes.

 “Soldiers have been stationed at the market since 1999, yet they have not been able to solve the problem. There is a police station there, what did the Divisional Police Officer (DPO) do, when the incident occurred?

“It is a market without structure; we can move the market to another place if we can provide an alternative. We should look at a new planning; we cannot have such a market at the centre of a megacity”, Obasa said

However, the Lagos State Commissioner of Police dismissed the allegation of bias stating that the allegation was aimed at painting the security agencies black over the crises adding that his Command in particular took responsibility and worked creditably well towards suppressing the chaos without any form of partisanship.

“Mile 12 is relatively calm and the process of healing has commenced in terms of dialogue. 174 suspects were arrested and at the moment investigations and auditing are ongoing.

“It was miscreants that were involved in that fight and not normal Yoruba or Hausa. Even when the fight was on, some Hausa hid Yoruba children in their shops, likewise some Yoruba hid Hausa people in their homes.

“All those trying to play on ethnic or religious sentiments are using cheap blackmail. It is mere fabrication that police or security agencies took sides in that fight. We did our job there devoid of sentiments,” he said.