Traders count losses as Tinubu’s daughter reopens market 9 days after closure in bid to force traders to register with APC

Traders at Iponri Market in Lagos mainland, South-West Nigeria, are counting their losses, which runs into many millions of naira. The market was reopened around noon today after being closed down for nine days on the orders of Mrs. Folashade Tinubu-Ojo, daughter of National Leader of the All Progressives Congress, APC, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu.

The traders’ ordeal started on Saturday, February 8, when Folashade, who was last year installed as the Iyaloja General by Tinubu, sent special squad policemen from the Rapid Response Squad to shut down the market. She later told the traders that the market would be reopened only if they registered with the ruling party in the state, the All Progressives Congress (APC). Folashade inherited the Iyaloja General title from her late grandmother, Alhaja Abibatu Mogaji.

News Express checks showed that while the sales girl are jubilating that the market has been reopened, the shop owners are torn between sadness and joy in view of their heavy losses. Some of the traders stocked perishable commodities while some imported items related to the Valentine’s Day celebration – which has since come and gone. “You can understand our sadness because this market has unjustly been closed for over a week,” one shop owner who pleaded anonymity told News Express.

Mrs. Tinubu-Ojo’s high-handedness over the issue has attracted widespread condemnation, including from the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APG), which demanded immediate reopening of the market, pointing out that membership of political parties is voluntary under Nigeria’s laws.