The executives of the Block B section of the Ayangbure (Sabo) market, Ikorodu have cleared air on the alleged N30,000 legal fee being collected from traders as condition for obtaining forms to repurchase their shops after completion of the demolished market complex which is currently under construction.
Mr Patrick Nwabuisi, the chairman of the section, in an interview with Oriwu Sun, said the legal fee is meant to settle the expenses incurred during the legal battle to seek injunction against the demolition of shops in the section by the council and not to enrich the executives of the section as being claimed by some people in the market.
He explained that when the notice of demolition was given to the section by the council in 2015 due to their disagreement over the price being charged by its contractor employed to redevelop the section, all the traders in the section agreed to contribute N5,000 each to contract a lawyer to assist them in getting an injunction against the demolition.
Mr. Patrick stated that when they discovered that the case was taking a longer time than expected and the lawyer has been bought over by the council and its contractor, the excos had to appeal to the traders for additional contributions to get another lawyer who, according to him, charged millions of naira to take over the case.
Aside the general contributions, the chairman said the exco obtained two loans running into millions of naira from a micro-finance bank while some executives and traders borrowed money to prosecute the case and to cover other expenses, adding that all these loans are yet to be fully paid as some of the exco members and traders owned by the section are currently looking for where to get money to re-purchase their own shops.
He stated that from 2015 when the court case commenced till May, 2017 when the shops in the section were eventually demolished despite court injunction, those traders who supported the struggle had contributed #30,000 each.
To this end, Mr Nwabuisi said the legal fee, which he said has been reduced to N25,000 due to a plea by Chief Sikiru Ibu-Owo Ogunleye,Ogbeni Oja of Ikorodu, would only be paid by few traders who did not contribute financially to the court case as a way of making them appreciate the struggle that gave birth to the benefit they are seeking to enjoy.
While debunking the allegation that the money would go to private pockets, the chairman explained that the amount expected to be raised from the legal fee is very little because those expected to pay are not up to thirty percent as majority of the traders had already paid during the struggle and assured that money realized would not be embezzled but used in offsetting part of the debts incurred during the court case.
He also castigated the Iyaoloja of the market, Alhaja Taofeekat Allison, for being the brain behind the criticism over the legal fee and wondered why she is kicking against the decision unanimously agreed to by the executive and traders of the section.
Mr Nwabuisi explained that Alhaja Allison, in a bid to discredit the legal fee, had gone to the Lagos State Secretariat, Lagos State House of Assembly, Ikorodu Local Government and Oba Kabiru Shotobi, Ayangbure of Ikorodu, to lodge a complaint but was told that nothing could be done about it since it was the decision of the entire section.
On the allegation that forms for the purchase of shops currently under construction at the section are mostly being sold to Igbo traders, Mr Nwabuisi said the allegation was false and that it was made to discredit him and other executives.
He stated that those who purchased the form so far are mostly Yoruba traders and he showed our reporter the purchase register to back his claim.
Mr Nwabuisi explained further that the forms are only being sold to traders who can present necessary documents to prove that their shops were among these demolished and not based on their tribes.
He stressed that the tribal sentiment being whipped up by their detractors is uncalled for as the shops would strictly be sold to traders whose shops were among those demolished after completion.
Mr Nwabuisi urged the Iyaoloja and others spreading false allegations against the leadership of Block B section of the market to desist from such act as he and other Exco members are genuinely committed to ensuring that the victims of the May 4 illegal demolition are handed back their shops.
Another Exco member of the section, Mrs. Mistura Adeyeye, in her own reaction said those complaining about the legal fee are those traders who did not support their struggle against the demolition of shops in the section and are only trying to blackmail them because they have been vindicated.
She maintained that since most of the traders in the section had already contributed money towards the court case, the remaining few traders should pay the legal fee as their own contribution towards the struggle and also to enable the Exco settle part of the loans taken in the course of the legal battle.
Mrs Adeyeye said it is wrong for anyone to think that the legal fee would be embezzled by the executives of the section when the amount expected to be realized from payment is not enough to settle the debt incurred by the Exco during the court case.
Mr Eneji Usman Oziwere who is also a member of the Section B Exco, in his brief contribution described those criticizing the legal fee as those who want to reap from where they did not sow.
He stated that the amount being charged by the executives of the section is not up to half of what is being charged as legal fee at the newly constructed Block A section of the market and yet nobody is complaining about it.
Mr Oziwere equally explained that the reason the Iyaloja was opposing the legal fee is because the contract for the construction of the shops was not awarded to her preferred contractor and as a result she is looking for a reason to destablise the approved arrangement for the project.
Meanwhile, a shop owner at the Block A section, Mr Agidi Musa, while briefly speaking with Oriwu sun, said traders in Block B should be grateful to their executives for ensuring that they are paying as little as N25,000 and N400,000 as legal fee and for the shops respectively.
He explained that when their own shops were reconstructed early this year, the developer asked them to pay N700,000 for each shop and N100,000 as legal fee, adding that some traders are yet to take possession of their shops despite making full payment for the shops and legal fee.