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‘Don’t Starve Us’ – Ilorin Traders Protest As Govt Blocks Market Entrance

Published

12 hours ago

Jan 14, 2025.

Ilorin traders protest government barricades restricting market access.
Barricades block key routes, affecting businesses and customer flow.
Traders urge the government to provide more market entrances.

Many concerned traders and shop owners from Post Office and Challenge, two prominent commercial zones in Ilorin, Kwara State, converged on Monday, January 13, 2025, to protest the state government’s installation of barricades that restrict access to their businesses.

The barricades are part of Governor Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq’s administration’s efforts to reclaim setbacks and address road encroachments in commercial areas.

However, these barricades have disrupted key access routes connecting Post Office, Challenge, Ahmadu Bello Way, and Tanke Road, sparking discontent among the affected traders.

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EKO HOT BLOG reports that holding placards with messages such as “Don’t kill us,” “Challenge is a central market,” and “Single entrance can’t contain us,we’re used by the traders “the traders decried the adverse impact of the barriers on their livelihood.

“Our businesses have been badly affected as we cannot get customers to buy from us.

This economic hardship is seriously biting harder,” Punch quoted one of the traders lamenting during the protest.

Tensions reportedly escalated over the weekend when one of the barricade entrances was torn down, leading to the swift deployment of security personnel from the Kwara State Police Command to maintain peace in the Challenge area.

A senior police officer, who spoke on condition of anonymity, stated, “We are here to maintain peace and order. The police command remains committed to its constitutional responsibility of ensuring harmony.”

A trader, Toyin Samson, expressed her frustrations, saying, “We have been denied our daily bread because many customers have abandoned us. We appeal to the government to provide more entrances to the Challenge market.”

At a quarterly press briefing, ESV Abdulraheem Sulyman, Chairman of the Kwara State Geographic Information Service (KW-GIS), defended the reclamation exercise, explaining that it is in line with Federal Government directives to enhance security.

Ilorin Traders Protest

“This exercise is being carried out across all 16 local government areas in Kwara State to secure public institutions and major roads,” Sulyman clarified.