By Editor
Following the worrisome state of affairs in the popular Fayose Market leading to series of protests by members of the Association, the Chairman of the Ado Central LCDA, Engr. Toyin Ojo has waded in the matter, allaying the fears of occupants of the market as he maintained that governrnent will not do anything to jeopardize their interest as long as they remain law abiding.
He gave the charge while responding to questions bordering on the recent protest organized by the shop owners in the ICT business center.
According to competent sources in the market, the Association was planning to hold election for it’s new executive when the election was put on hold allegedly on the order of the Council boss citing security reasons during the period while he inaugurated a
5-man caretaker committee to run the affairs of the Association for three months.
Another issue of contention in the market it was gathered, was the initiative of the LCDA to build new lock-up shops in the market.
Some of the traders who spoke to our correspondent alleged that after the completion of the shops, they expressed fear that the new shops may have been allocated to the highest bidder contrary to the initial agreement with the LCDA Chairman.
One of the traders who spoke to our correspondent on condition of anonymity said; “We were told to deposit the sum of N500, 000 for space after which we were to pay N3.5million for the purchase after completion.
He however expressed worries that the feelers they are getting from the Local Government was that those of them who are qualified to purchase the shops may have been denied the privilege as it was being rumoured that the authority has decided to sell the shops at at whopping 6.5m adding that most of them cannot afford to pay such amount because of the state of the economy.
Dismissing the allegations, Engr. Toyin Ojo in a response, said there was no truth in the allegations as he maintained that the building of the lock-up shops was the initiative of the Council to provide more facilities in the market and to reduce the activities of illegal vendors and boost the revenue generation of the council area.
He said the N500,000 paid for interesting buyers for space was paid to the Bureau of Land saying that the project was initially stalled by the State Government following some controversies arising from another interested developer.
“At this point, members of the Association had lost hope and interest in the new shops until we succeeded in getting final approval from the government to build the shops”
On the controversies surrounding the alleged inflated cost of the new shops, the Council boss said there was no time the price was inflated to N6.5m as being rumoured.
His words; “At no time did we raise the cost as being rumoured. The N500,000 was paid to the State Government for space while the Council foot the bill of building the shops. I want to reiterate that the Council has not at anytime inflated the cost of a shop to N6.5m from N4.5m for the outright purchase of the facility while assuring every interested buyers the guarantee of getting their slots after meeting all the requirements”
On the issue of market administration and the election of new executive in the market, Engr Ojo said he ordered the stoppage of the election based on security report from the SSS and the Police that some aggrieved rival faction in the market were planning to distrupt the election thereby causing breakdown of law and order in the metropolis.
“No responsible government will fold it’s hand to allow a break down of the law as we all know that we are gradually moving to election period and opposition may hijack what they called peaceful protest to forment trouble and causing needless pains to the peace loving residents. So a stich in time saves nine” he said.
On the next move, the Council boss said the Ekiti State Ministry of Trade, Industry Investment and Cooperatives has extended the tenure of the caretaker committee for another six months to reorganize themselves and conduct a crisis free election.
