The Abuja Markets Management Ltd (AMML), has cautioned traders and market users in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), against partaking in the planned nationwide protest.
By Philip Yatai
The Abuja Markets Management Ltd (AMML), has cautioned traders and market users in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), against partaking in the planned nationwide protest.
The Managing Director of the market, Mr Abbas Yakubu gave the advice while interacting with traders in Abuja on Sunday.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that some Nigerians planned a nationwide protest scheduled for Aug. 1, to demand for government’s solution to current rising cost of living in the country.
Yakubu enjoined the traders to support security agencies in ensuring that markets are not infiltrated by people with suspicious intentions in the guise of peaceful protest.
According to him, past experiences show that miscreants will not stop at anything to take advantage of any type of gathering in the market, whether peaceful or not.
He reminded the traders how some shops in Wuse market, including a Police Station were torched by miscreants in the market destroying properties worth millions of Naira.
“The market is yet to fully recover from that incident and AMML cannot afford to risk a repeat of such occurrence in any of its markets.
‘’We have a history of protests and other incidents cascading into wanton destruction of properties in our markets.
“No responsible management or trader will fold his or her hands and wait for the incident to repeat itself.
“That is why we are urging you all to mobilise your fellow traders, the wheelbarrow pushers, your apprentices and everyone who has legitimate business in the markets to resist any attempt at infiltrating the market by hoodlums in the guise of protest,’’ he said.
According to Yakubu, markets as business environments are designated for buying and selling, and therefore, should be jealously guarded by the owners and operators for that purpose.
He argued that although the protest might not hold, following the withdrawal of many groups from participating in the protest, there was a need to be proactive.
“I also learnt that there are designated places and locations as well as other rules guiding the protest, we are just being proactive here to state emphatically that if you must protest, stay away from the market,” he warned. (NAN)
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