Traders whose shops were demolished by officials of Uyo Capital City Development Authority (UCCDA) have vowed to drag Akwa Ibom state government and Uyo local government council to court for compensation.
The traders in their separate interviews claimed that they had lost wares worth millions of naira over last week’s demolition exercise in Uyo, the state capital.
Some of the traders who spoke to Vanguard said they had already paid three years’ rents for stalls in advance to the market management committee and were never told that the shops were illegal structures.
Mr Essien Itama whose shop was demolished at Urua Enin market by University of Uyo, queried the rationale behind the state government’s action, and why the government did not give shop owners pre-demolition notice to enable the traders to evacuate their goods.
Itama narrated that “The market is a community one and not situated in the city centre. The officials of UCCDA came here with machetes and axes as if they were going to war, just to demolish a community market. This is pathetic, and we are still studying the next action to be taken. We have consulted our lawyers; we will take the state government and Uyo local government council to court to claim damages.”
Speaking on her loss, Mrs. Rose Archibong, a female trader in Akpan Andem Market, lamented that all the goods she bought with funds sourced from a local money lender were destroyed by the officials of UCCDA.
Archibong lamented, “the most painful thing is that they carried out the exercise when we were still at home observing the state government mandatory monthly environmental sanitation.”
She added , “As we are speaking now, most of the traders have developed heart attack, we even received the report that some of the people selling here collapsed after hearing the news of the demolition of their shops. Where are we going to start again? How do we pay back the loan we took to start this business?
“They did not give us information that they will demolish the shops, we would have removed our goods. Government has been collecting levies from us here; we never knew it was illegal structure according to them’’.
Another affected trader, Akpan Imo, said after his graduation, there was no employment so he decided to obtain a loan to start a poultry business but with the demolition he has lost every to miscreants who looted while the demolition was going on.
Mr. Idoreyin Raphael, the Special Assistant to governor Udom Emmanuel on Traders and market Matter, told vanguard that government has every right to demolish any illegal structure without pre-information.
In his words’ “It doesn’t matter whether the government notified them or not. Government has every right to remove illegal structures, but my happiness is that nobody died during the exercise. I have not received any compliant that somebody slumped as claimed by few traders.”
Mr. Enobong Uwah, Chairman of Uyo Capital City Development Authority, (UCCDA), said the agency has the mandate to regulate building of structures in Uyo capital city, and can also demolish any structure that it considers to be illegal.
Uwah denied the claim that officials of UCCDA were the people that looted the demolished shops, saying all those market shops demolished were illegal structures which they had been warning the owners long before now.
He said the demolition was in the interest of the government and its developmental plans, adding that the state governor, Mr. Udom Emmanuel wants to ensure the development of the capital city with speed, so he does not want interference.
Barr. Mfon Ben, the Chairman, Uyo Local Government Council, in an interview, said the council was not informed about the exercise, and urged the affected traders to remain calm as government would look into their plights.
Source: The Vanguard
