Husbands of traders, trading adjacent to the Railway Station in Jos, the Plateau State capital, have demonstrated over what they described as the illegal planned demolition of their shops by the management of the Railway Station.
The traders said the planned demolition was against a valid court order halting any attempt at dislodging them from their business area pending the determination of the suit filed by the traders against the Railway Station.
Chairman of the traders at the market, Alhaji Rabiu Muhammad, while briefing journalists in Jos, argued that none of them is trading close to the railway, adding that they legally occupied the shops more than twenty years ago, as the land was leased to them by the Railway Authority some years back.
Muhammad said, “It is the railway people who gave us the building permission. We got building permits from the Jos Metropolitan Development Board (JMDB) in the last twenty years. We believe that some management staff of the railway are trying to dislodge us for their own interests.”
“The place where the train is moving is far away from where we are trading. All the structures erected here followed due process. Nobody erected them illegally. They are the ones that gave us permission, and the papers to occupy the shops are from the Nigeria Railway Association,” the chairman added.
The market chairman further told journalists that they have filed a suit and secured an injunction, ordering the management to halt the planned eviction and demolition.
“We went to court to seek intervention, but still they violated the court order and demolished some of our properties. They are now targeting more than 400 shops to demolish,” he said.
Charity Okorapo, a trader in the market, lamented, “What is happening here is too much. They are driving us away while we are paying. This place was just a bush, but we used our hands and cleared the place some 20 years ago. After that, we began to pay money every year because the place had been leased to us. Let them leave us to do our business.”
Another trader, Ade Onyenira, expressed worry over the development, saying, “They have been disturbing us without any reason. Please, the federal government should intervene. This is where we earn our living. We are transacting business here legally.”
Our correspondent reports that other men and women have also expressed dismay over the plan to dislodge them, with women saying they are widows with children in their care.
Contacted on the development, the Public Relations Officer of the Railway Station in Jos, Adamu Muhammad, declined to comment to journalists, saying he was not authorised to speak on the matter.
