…Sets their tables on fire
By Kelechi Esogwa-Amadi
At least over a hundred traders at the popular makeshift railway market in Mile One, Diobu, Port Harcourt, were rendered helpless Saturday morning by the Rivers State Taskforce on street trading.
According to eye witnesses, the taskforce officials went to the railway market as early as 6 a.m., gathered all the wooden tables in the market and set them on fire, before the traders started arriving at the market for today’s business.
It was when some of the traders came to the market that they saw, to their shock, that their tables have been damaged and burnt by the Rivers State anti-street trading taskforce officials.
By the time TPCN got to the railway market around about 7 a.m. to see the scene, the tables were still burning while some of the traders were seen standing helplessly, watching their tables burn.
Some of the traders were heard lamenting and complaining over what they see as unwarranted persecution, harassment, intimidation and injustice, alleging that the act is an indirect message that they are no longer needed in Rivers State.
One of the traders told TPCN that the taskforce officials took them by surprise as they did not expect them to come and destroy their tables that early. He added: “We heard that the taskforce people came very early this morning to set these tables on fire. You can see the tables burning, just like that. It’s wickedness. I don’t know whether they want people to die of hunger.”
Lamenting further, the trader wondered how long they would stay without doing their business of trading in the railway market. “I don’t know how long we will stay without selling in this market in this hard time. How can a man with family survive? This is not right at all. They should allow us to be selling our clothes here so that we can feed our families,” he said.
Although TPCN is yet to ascertain the actual reason for the destruction of the tables, there are indications that it might not be unconnected to the Rivers State Government’s fight against corona virus.
As part of the measures to curb the spread of the virus in the state, the Governor Nyesom Wike-led administration had closed down the popular markets in Port Harcourt, including the Rumuwoji (Mile), Oil Mill and Mile 3 markets for over three months now.
Investigations revealed that the traders at the railway market had continued to do their business without strictly observing the government’s covid-19 preventive measures, especially those of washing of hands, use of sanitizers and wearing of face masks, a development TPCN learnt the state governor is not happy about and which may have prompted the state taskforce to destroy the tables.
TPCN did not see any official of the taskforce at the railway market to interview when it went to the scene of the act. However, effort to reach them is still ongoing.
