By Akinwale Kasali
The closure of Ladipo and Oyingbo Markets by the Lagos State Government has led to brickbats between the All Progressives Congress, APC, Government of the State and opposition Party, Labour Party, LP.
LP, is alleging that the Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwo Olu, deliberaty closed down the markets because of the Igbo who mostly own shops and stalls in them.
Publicity Secretary of the Labour Party, LP, Arabambi Abayomi, accused the APC of being “intolerant and highly crude government”.
He added that “being completely dictatorial, Hitlerite and recklessly very undemocratic is what is now being known” of the Government.
The statement reads partly:
“Closing Ladipo and Oyingbo markets in Lagos indefinitely , two predominantly major centers of Igbos businesses with a view to ruin their businesses because they are confessed and very unrepentant loyal supporters of LP in Lagos is intolerant, callous, insensitive, repressive, a direct discriminatory and oppressive act by the Lagos APC Government.
“Of course, Lagos is not unaware that her own Citizens also work and live in other States in the Country. Must Lagos Government be this given to evil against fellow Nigerians?
“The Constitution of Nigeria guarantees every citizen the freedom to live and work in any part of the country.
“It is a Constitutional duty binding on the Lagos Government to guarantee all Citizens the fundamental human rights. But again, revolutions, social insecurity and people’s rebellion are born by oppressive and wicked Governance“, the statement reads.
Abayomi had earlier said that the APC Government in Lagos State knows that the two markets are dominated by Igbo, prompting the closure to further make them succumb and do the biding of the APC Government as campaign and election draw closer.
Last week, the Lagos Waste Management Authority, LAWMA, through its Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Ibrahim Odunmboni had announced that Oyingbo and Ladipo Markets will be shut down due to the indiscriminate dumping of refuse by traders in the market.
The call for the closure of the narket was assented to by Governor Sanwo Olu which has now degenerated into a political war between the LP and the APC.
