By Salim Yunusa
Traders at Royal market had a rude awakening as El-rufai demolish their market, bulldozing through shops with wares in them. Although they were given a month’s notice to vacate, traders are outraged that the demolition exercise occurred after midnight, when they couldn’t move or salvage their goods from destruction.
This is coming a few days after the purported hike in school fees of Kaduna State University (KASU), which has brought the Elrufai administration under fire for being anti-people.
Royal Market is a home to GSM related products and is one of the largest phone markets in Kaduna. In light of the overnight demolition, traders had to stay close to their shops till morning to avoid their wares being looted by hoodlums.
Efforts to get to government officials by SAHELIAN TIMES were unsuccessful, as most of the contacted officials said they are not authorized to talk about it but reiterated that quit notice was given to them but they failed to heed it.
However, the demolition generated a lot of conversations on social media, with many people saying that the government should have tempered justice with mercy and given the traders the opportunity of safely removing their wares. Others were of the opinion that the traders were at fault, because they were given enough notice to vacate the premises.
The Special Assistant to the Senate President, Mr Sadiq, saying, “If they had moved after the adequate notice they got, there won’t be need of not catching them unaware. The people who came to do the work at night also consider the safety and security of themselves before choosing the convenient time. If they had left, this won’t matter. Take it or leave it.”
A trader, A hameed A sada, lamented that “our place of sourcing a livelihood is gone. My shop and goods are destroyed. I don’t know what to do.”
Many people are noting that this is coming at a difficult time; with rising inflation, the fasting period and the effects of the COVID-19 lockdown still being felt.
