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By Amos Okioma, Yenagoa
Igbo traders at Swali market in Yenagoa, the Bayelsa State capital, under the aegis of Igbo Traders Union (ITU) on Monday close down shops in protest of “incessant burglary attacks” on their shops where goods and cash worth N10 million had been stolen in the past seven months.
Speaking with journalists during a peaceful protest around the market, the secretary of Igbo Traders Union, Mr Jude Osigwe, condemned the frame up and arrest of the association’s chairman, Mr Paul Odurukwe and some of their leaders, even when they were victims of burglary attacks.
He disclosed that the union’s chairman and some of their leaders were arrested last Saturday May 18, 2019 over trumped up charges that they sponsor criminality in the market.
Osuigwe said that almost every night, hoodlums with arms always invade their shops at Swali Ultra-Modern Market to extort money and valuables from them.
He said: “This has been happening for over seven months now, cultists, bad boys, armed robbers will invade our various shops in the market to extort money from us, most times, they come in the day time, and our customers are not even spared.
“We have reported the matter to the Police, but they said they can’t do anything about it, and when we report to our chairman, he assured us that he will do something about it.
“The most painful thing is that, when we lock our shops after the day’s business, the next morning our shops will be broken and our goods carted away.
“Most funny thing is that the security men in the market will always tell us that they don’t know who broke them, that it maybe spirit in the market,” he said.
He said that they had already sent petition through their lawyers to various security commands in the state notifying them about the incident.
The South South coordinator of Ohaneze Youth wing, Chief Chinedu Ugwa, urged the Police to do the needful by granting the arrested Igbo traders leaders bail, or charge them to court as the law demands.
He said persecution on Igbo traders in Bayelsa State is fast becoming unbearable, pleading with security agencies to wade in.
The Police spokesman in the state, SP Asinim Butswat said that police had received the complaint about burglary in the market, and as part of their investigations, they had to invite some people to help in their investigation in order to put a stop to criminality in the market.
