The Minister of the Federal Capital Territory Mohammad Bello has ordered the closure of Dei-Dei International Market following a clash between ‘Okada riders’ and traders.
The clash which was reported to result from the death of yet to be identified woman, led to the loss of goods and property worth billions of naira in the market.
The minister gave the closure order on Thursday after inspecting the scene of the incident with the FCT Commissioner of Police, Sunday Babaji, Director, State Security Services and others. He said he saw four corpses during the inspection.
He said: “The community and market leaders must fish out hoodlums and bad eggs among them, unfortunately this time around hoodlums carry arms and they shoot innocent people. As a matter of fact, I saw four corpses. This is very sad and totally unequivocally unacceptable in Abuja.
“We have agreed with security agencies that full scale investigations will be done, and the communities have to be part and parcel of the solution or else there will be no peace. In the interim the timber market and the surrounding markets, including all the activities on road that have clustered the road and made it impassable, will all stop until the technical team reviews everything, and then we will take the next decision.
“I am appealing to other communities within the FCT that there is no tribal or religious misunderstanding because all the leadership of various communities have lived here in peace for many years. This is simply the matter of criminals and hoodlums taking laws into their hands.”
Ifunanya Ikueze is an Engineer, Safety Professional, Writer, Investor, Entrepreneur and Educator.
