Managing director of the Sabon Gari Market, Alhaji Abdul Bashir Hussain, has said the management would not reverse the ejection of wheelbarrow hawkers from the market because a better place had been provided for them.
In a reaction to the protest staged by the Wheelbarrow Hawkers Union, Hussain said a more conducive environment has been provided for the hawkers to relocate to before the decision was taken. He said the hawkers rejected the offer.
Hussain said, “We will not reverse our decision because it is in the interest of the general public. My advice to these wheelbarrow traders is to obey the rule of law and ensure that they conduct their businesses through legitimate means.”
The market chief said the presence of the wheelbarrow traders causes a lot of havoc and security challenges in the routes to the market.
Hussain said, “Before we took this decision, we invited all the stakeholders, who included elders, security agencies, members of the Wheelbarrow Traders’ Association and every concerned individual and explained the kind of inconveniences they were causing in the market.
“We offered them another place to move their wares for convenience and security of the market but they refused.”
Hussain said their activities tend to block routes in the market which causes congestion between men and women in the market and is against the teaching of Islam. But the protesting traders accused Hussain of forcing them out of the market.
Their leader who doubles as the secretary of the Borrow Group Organisation, Sanusi Sale Abdallah, said despite subjecting themselves to the management of the market for necessary changes, the management insisted on their expulsion.
“After he was sworn in, he told us that he didn’t want us in the market. We told him we would adjust to new changes and he still insisted we must leave,” Sanusi said.
