Governor Abiola Ajimobi of Oyo
State on Friday revealed when the shut Bodija market will be re-opened.
The market was shut Thursday afternoon after a clash reported to have claimed lives of
about six people occurred between butchers and policemen Thursday morning.
But, Ajimobi while speaking when
he visited the market Friday afternoon declared that the market can be reopened
within twenty-four hours.
Ajimobi, however, said such would
be done after due consultation with the security agencies, community and market
leaders and the leaders of the local government area.
He added that perpetrators of the
clash will be prosecuted and made to rehabilitate the burnt police station.
He reiterated that his
administration will not tolerate hooliganism, thuggery, saying that government
will not fold its hands and allow some dissidents to destroy its seven years
labour of restoring peace and safety in the state.
He maintained that only an enemy
of development will condemn the action of the government to relocate the
butchers to the central abattoir, explaining that the management of the Central
Abattoir is being handled by the 11 Local Government Areas (LGAs) in Ibadan and
its Local Council Development Areas (LCDAs), the National Butchers Union of
Nigeria (NUBN), the Oyo State Government on Public Private Partnership
arrangement.
He said, “We are talking about
the general health of the people and not just the minute section in the market
as every citizen of the state has one or two things to do with the Bodija
Market. The decision to have a central abattoir for the Ibadan butchers predated
my administration and we saw the need to relocate the butchers as well. We
started discussing with them since five years ago before we eventually
relocated them this year.
“We had series of stakeholders’
meeting and signed Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) for the smooth relocation.
All parties agreed to our resolutions and that is why I am surprised that we
still have dissidents fomenting trouble. We are always in the habit of
politicizing issues in the state. Majority of the butchers have moved and we
have received commendations from their union, National Union of Butchers of
Nigeria.
“Let me assure you that the
perpetrators of this violence will not go unpunished and they will rehabilitate
the police station. People must be allowed to pay for their deeds. We did not
destroy anybody’s stall or shop. Or is there any crime in destroying what is
not useful for the government again? We have not stopped them from selling meat
at the Bodija market but no more slaughtering of cow there due to the poor hygienic
condition. There was also resistance when butchers were moved from Gege to
Bodija, so the resistance is not new but the crisis and violence were
unnecessary.
“We are working at reopening the
market at the earliest possible time as we do not want to deprive our people
their means of livelihood. But, we must be assured that adequate measures are
put in place to forestall a repeat of the crisis. We may likely open the market
in the next 48 hours”.
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