Amidst widespread allegations of ethnic cleansing as the basis for the demolition of some structures at the Alaba International Market, Lagos, Governors Babajide Sanwo-Olu and his Imo state capital, Hope Uzodima have met. NPO Reports that the government sent bulldozers to some of the structures considered to be distressed in the Alaba Market, mostly populated by traders of the South-East extraction. The traders had alleged that the action of the Lagos state government was largely informed by the voting pattern recorded in recent elections where they allegedly voted in favour either the Labour Party or the Peoples Democratic Party. The government of Lagos belongs to the All Progressive Congress.
The Presidential candidate of the Labour Party, Peter Obi, had also made Alaba Market a centre of his campaign of his campaigns during the electioneering, creating impression that he enjoyed massive support from the area. The ruling APC had surprisingly lost the presidential election to the Labour Party. The APC had to embark on serious work to turn the table against the opposition during the governorship poll.
Since the demolition order was released, traders at the market had cried out that the move was a punishment for their voting decisions. Speaking after the meeting which was attended by representatives of the market, Sanwo-Olu said a lot of misinformation had gone out to cause misunderstanding among people of different ethnic groups living in Lagos. He said the state remains home to all adding that no decision has ever been taken on the basis of religion or ethnicity. “There have been a lot of wrong information and wrong communication. The conversation today has cleared the air. We need to further collaborate. We have set up a small working committee to be able to stop all the negative information out there,” Sanwo-Olu said Uzodimma, who is also the Chairman of the Nigerian Governors’ Forum, said that all issues around the demolition would be resolved assuring the traders that Sanwo-Olu had assured him.