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… Set to Deploy Protests, Legal Action to Get Shops
By Joel Anekwe
Members of the Mile 1 Market Shop Owners Association have rejected the proposal that the available shops at the recently commissioned phase 2 of the Rumuwoji Market, popularly known as the Mile 1 market, would be balloted for.
This is as the association has demanded that preference be given to original owners of shops prior to the construction of the phase 2 of the market by the Governor Nyesom Wike administration.
They said that after the original owners had been given their shops, whatever is left can now be balloted among interested members of the public, adding that that was how the Rotimi Amaechi administration handled the allocation of shops at the phase 1 of the market.
Addressing newsmen on the matter Saturday, leaders of the various lines in the market argued that it would amount to great injustice for the government to consider balloting for shops, warning that they would take legal action and street protests to bring home their demand.
The leaders appeared at the briefing with several placards with inscriptions such as: ‘Balloting is not good,’ ‘Governor, give us our shops – owners,’ ‘All market owners say no to balloting,’ among others.
Speaking to journalists, Blessing Amadi, who said she is the Queen of the Rumuwoji community, landlords to the market, and have been a trader in the market for over 20 years said that after the fire incident in the market the governor promised to rebuild the market for them.
“Now, instead of us to reclaim our shops, he is saying he wants to do balloting. We don’t want balloting because we are the real shop owners. The shops are more than enough for the owners to get their shops back, then the remaining ones if he wants to do ballot he can go ahead. We are appealing to him that as he promised to do to traders at the fruit garden market, he should also do so to us,” Amadi said.
Also speaking, Chief Abela LongJohn, who said his mother was a shop owner and that he grew up to meet his mother trading at the market, called on all traders in the state to arise in solidarity with the Mile 1 shop owners against the balloting system, warning it could spread to other markets in future.
“All shop owners should arise,” he said, adding “today it’s Mile 1, tomorrow nobody knows whose turn it will be. If they succeed with balloting for Mile 1, it means balloting will stay. Today it’s Mile 1, tomorrow it can be Fruit Garden and next tomorrow it can be Town Market.”
LongJohn warned; “If they ballot the market on Monday then shop owners should rise and occupy the roads, occupy government house, occupy even the Mile 1 market itself. My mother owns a shop there. I was born and brought up at the market.”
Lawyer to the shop owners and human rights advocate, Higher King, who expressed support to the shop owners, described the move to ballot the shops as huge injustice to shop owners, adding that it would be the first time such a step would be adopted in the state.
He noted that the phase 1 of the market was not balloted for, adding that he had it on good record that the Fruit Garden market was not balloted for, and wondered why the government would want to adopt that system for Mile 1 Market.
King said; “The truth is that all the markets they rebuilt in Rivers State, they never balloted. Mile 1 phase 1 was not balloted. I also hear that the Fruit Garden market was not balloted. Why would you ballot phase 11 of Mile 1 market, why are you balloting it?
He went on: “We confronted them and they said the shops would not go round. Even if it will not go round give the owners their shops. If you do that, you can ballot the rest.”
He said that the association has refilled a suite on the matter which it withdrew in December when the state government urged for a settlement out of court, adding that since the government was going back to the balloting idea the association had no choice than to return to the court to fight for its right.
