Between transformation and demolition of Oshodi market

By Emeka Oparah . . .

The Social Media has been abuzz since yesterday following the demolition of the famous or notorious (depending on your perspective) Owonifari Market better known as Oshodi Market by the Lagos State Government.

Expectedly, some of the traders have cried foul, alleging malicious intent by the government to destroy their businesses and indeed destroy them. The ethnic card is regrettably being played by the traders and their supporters, many of who are more adept at using the social media to whip up such sentiments. And of course, it seems to have caught on.

One narrative suggests it’s part of a methodically orchestrated campaign to destabilize the Igbos in Lagos by ruining their economic prowess, which allegedly powers Lagos. Another says it’s payback time by the APC for the Igbos, who purportedly voted PDP. Yet another angle is that most of the traders/shop owners were still in their villages for the Christmas and New Year and were not around to salvage their wares before the bulldozers moved in Nicodemously on Wednesday.

I have been under tremendous personal pressure from my “brothers” to say something about the sad saga, and I was waiting to arrange the pieces of information at my disposal before going to town. Now, I just got off the phone with the Lagos State Commissioner for Information & Strategy, Steve Ayorinde, who had actually just ended a Media Briefing on the same subject.

According to Steve, Lagos could not have acted obnoxiously having first relocated the affected traders and shop owners to the newly built Isopakowodo market stalls at Bolade area of Oshodi. He not only reminded me that the law allows for a 7-day notice, which the government adhered to, but said that one of the traders, who contacted the government office in charge, even had his goods evacuated before the demolition, and he would pick them from Alausa when he returns from the village. Hmmmm…!

Now, I want to make four points here.
One, there will NEVER be a good time to embark on a demolition exercise anywhere in the world. Some people will definitely resist. It may be plausible to say that most of the traders are still in their hometowns and villages, but the fact remains they always knew that this day would come, and they were forewarned. So, I am not taken in by that sentiment.

Two, some ethnic jingoists have started a campaign to whip up ethnic sentiment around the demolition considering the fact that majority of the shop owners and traders in the market are of Igbo extraction. That is very unfortunate and must not be allowed be to fester. Reading ethnicity into every minor or major issue in Lagos is not good for national cohesion. Everybody shops from Oshodi; not only Igbos do!

Three, I saw Kayode Ogundamisi’s tweet asking Igbos who are irked by the demolition to go to court since the market is Oshodi not Oshodimma. One could have taken the tweet as a joke, but considering the circumstance, Ogundamisi’s tweet and a few other comments (like one Facebook post by Ndaa Isaac) taunting the hardworking Igbo traders, and indeed Igbo people, are reckless, insensitive and absolutely in bad taste. People, especially otherwise educated folks, should know when and how to make bellicose commentary on such a fragile occasion.

Fourthly, there’s a BIG lesson in all of this to the Igbos and their mainly pot-bellied, self-serving governor’s and other political leaders. Now, if you don’t feel good about the way your host is treating you, you leave. Perhaps, it’s not going to be as easy as that in the current circumstance, but the time has come to develop the South East economically so most of these businessmen (whom we derisively call traders) can take their wares and acumen and the inherent taxes and other financial contributions home.

Lagos State may be a place for all, as Chief Ebenezer Obey said in one of his songs of the early 70s, but East or West, North or South, home is best. Igbos cannot continue to develop other places while their home is desolate. It’s just got to stop. Time to call for increased activity at the Onne and Calabar Ports.

Lagos plans to develop into a mega-city and no matter the sentiments, that cannot happen, if markets like Oshodi still exist. Ladipo had better get ready, but then again, Lagos State must learn from Oshodi so the next place to be hit will be easier and less controversial.

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