Traders and customers in Lagere and Mayfair Market, Ile-Ife Osun state have been chased out by the state security agents in the early hours of Saturday.
This is in line with the directives of the Osun State Government. The state government announced the closure of all market places within the state in order to contain the spread of Coronavirus.
Many traders flee, abandoning their goods at the sight of the security agents for fear of arrest. Aggressive enforcement officers were seen seizing up goods.
Shayo, a trader who spoke with WAP Correspondent said that the agents equally came to the market Friday and chased away everyone before locking down the market on Saturday.
“I left my wares when I heard that security men were coming. Some other traders did the same. We came to the market because it is our major source of livelihood. The security men came here on Friday as well but must feed ourselves and our families,” she lamented.
She continued, “I was told about the ban but those issuing all these directives are wealthy. I left my wares and ran. These agents seized many goods yesterday, they seized more today.”
Seun, another trader who spoke about the incident decried the insensitive nature of the State Government toward their plight. “This ban on people’s businesses isn’t considerate. Why seize our good and take them away like that. We must fend for ourselves and our families. They are rich but we aren’t,” he opined.
The ban
On Tuesday, the Osun Government announced the indefinite suspension of designated weekly markets across the state. This step was a measure to contain the spread of Covid-19 Virus.
According to the State Commissioner of health, Dr Ramiu Isamotu, only the daily markets would be allowed to open, but with regular monitoring to ensure strict compliance with precautionary measures to prevent the spread of the global COVID-19 pandemic.
The suspension of the weekly markets was necessary because Osun has boundaries with some states with reported cases of the virus.
Osun further banned public gatherings that would bring more than 50 people together in the same place including churches mosques and schools.
Corona Virus Outbreak
Although Nigeria was among the last few countries to record cases of Covid-19 Virus. The number of confirmed cases have grown rapidly, forcing the government to intensify its effort in the fight against the pandemic.
So far, there are 81 confirmed cases of Corona Virus in Nigeria, the National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) disclosed.
On Friday, 11 new cases of Covid-19 virus was confirmed in Nigeria. This implies that there are 81 cases of the Virus in Nigeria. 52 cases have been confirmed in Lagos, 14 in FCT, 3 in Ogun, 1 in Ekiti, 3 in Oyo, 2 in Edo, 2 in Bauchi, 1 in Osun, 1 in Rivers and 2 in Enugu state.
In all, there are 81 confirmed cases, 3 discharged and 1 death Case in Nigeria.
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