By Daniel Tyokua
Bothered by the frequent violence at Dei-Dei market an outskirt of Abuja, the community leaders and traders have urged the minister of FCT malam Mohammad Bello to liaise with the police to provide adequate security in the market.
The vice chairman of Timber Shed market in Dei-Dei, Ifeanyi Chibata said the three markets that make up the place, building materials, tomatoes sellers and timber have no police station.
According to him, a police station that was built in place for long is yet to be provided with officers.
For Dahiru Mani, secretary of the Tomatoes and Onions Sellers section of the market, called for fencing of the entire area.
This is at the instance of the indefinite closure of Dei – Dei International Market, by FCT Minister malam Muhammad Bello following a clash between commercial motorcycle operators and the traders that claimed five lives on Wednesday.
He directed the immediate closure after inspecting the scene of the incident with FCT Commissioner of Police Sunday Babaji, Director state security services with other sister security agencies and top officials of the FCT Administration.
Recall that tjrouble started in the market when a female trader yet to be identified fell off a commercial motorcycle and was crushed to death by an articulated vehicle.
Bello directed the community and the market leaders to fish out the hoodlums responsible for the crisis.
He said: “The community and market leaders must fish out hoodlums and bad eggs among them, unfortunately this time around hoodlums carry arms and they shot innocent people. As a matter of fact, I saw four corpses this is very sad and totally unequivocally unacceptable in Abuja.
“We have agreed with security agencies that full scale investigations will be done, and the communities have to be part and parcel of the solution or else there will be no peace. In the interim the timber market and the surrounding markets, including all the activities on road that have clustered the road and made it unpassable will all stop untill the technical team reviews everything, and then we will take the next decision” he said.
