The Alaba International Market, one of the biggest markets in Lagos State, has been shut indefinitely over an alleged plot to burn it.
The closure of the market arose from a bloody faceoff between traders and transport union members on Wednesday, Saturday Tribune gathered.
While the Lagos State police command told Saturday Tribune that only one person died in the fracas, a market leader was quoted by another news medium as saying that three persons were killed and 28 others injured.
However, in an exclusive chat with Saturday Tribune, the president of the Alaba International Market Traders Association, Geoffrey Mbolu, said: “I can only confirm the death of one person now. Many others were injured and are in the hospital. The shooting was massive. Many of our members were shot.”
When Saturday Tribune contacted the Oniba of Ibaland, Oba Sulaimon Adeshina Raji Ashade, who has the market and the union members under his jurisdiction, the traditional ruler refused to speak on the crisis. He asked our correspondent to call back. Subsequent calls put through to him went unanswered.
The image maker of the state police command, Benjamin Hundeyin, however, told Saturday Tribune that the police in the state were keeping an eye on the market
Confirming that only one body had been recovered so far, Hundeyin disclosed that five suspects were arrested in connection with the crisis.
“Only one body has been recovered and we have arrested five persons in connection with the incident. Investigation is still ongoing,” he said.
Since the latest bloody clash, reports of the imminent relocation of the market by the state government have been circulating, adding to the uncertainty over the fate of the multi-billion naira market.
The rumour was however shut down by the Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Mr Gbenga Omotoso, in a chat with Saturday Tribune.
Omotoso said: “I have not heard anything about relocating the market. The exco (Executive Council) has not even discussed or said anything along that line. The rumour is a conjectural imagination of those spreading it.”
