Hoodlums Disrupt FG’s ‘TraderMoni’ Distribution In Ogun
The distribution of the Federal Government’s Enterprise and Empowerment Programme (GEEP) popularly called ‘TraderMoni’ came to an abrupt end on Tuesday in Abeokuta, Ogun state when hoodlums stormed the Lafenwa Market venue of the programme and disrupted it.
The hoodlums, numbering about 50, also whisked away the two market leaders: the Iyaloja and Babaloja of Lafenwa market to an unknown place before they were later returned to their respective market stalls.
Speaking with newsmen the handlers of the GEEP ‘TraderMoni’ had arrived the market where they were documenting the traders’ bio-data with their identities already captured in their Permanent Voter’s Cards (PVCs) before the hoodlums suspected to be political thugs stormed the venue and disrupted the programme.
Some of the traders who could not get their bio-data captured before the programme was disrupted, alleged that chairman of the Abeokuta North West Local Council Development Area (LCDA), Hon. Monsuru Shorunke led the hoodlums who chased away the market men and women before they eventually abducted the duo of Babaloja and Iyaloja.
As of the time our correspondent visited the scene, the Iyaloja Lafenwa had returned to her stall where she was distributing the sum of N500 to each of the traders at the market.
When contacted, the LCDA chairman, Hon. Shorunke confirmed that he led some “boys” to Lafenwa on the order of the state governor, Ibikunle Amosun when news filtered that some politicians “were giving the traders money in exchange of their PVCs.
“I was in front of the governor when we heard that some people came to Lafenwa market, collecting people’s PVCs from the traders with their names and PVCs numbers.
“And governor said we should go out and find out the people. It was Governor Amosun that sent us. I was in front of the governor when we heard the information. So, I collected Iyaloja’s phone number from Hon. Akintona. We took Iyaloja to the governor’s house along with Babaloja of Lafenwa”.
“We believe it was wrong for them to come and collect people’s PVCs with numbers before election day. That was what they came to do at Lafenwa”.
