Your Goons Terrorising Residents, Call them to Order Now, Bode George Tells Sanwo-Olu

Segun James

A chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party(PDP) in Lagos state, Chief Olabode George has called on Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu to call officials and security agents operating in the name of the government to stop terrorising residents and traders, saying that their activities is akin to terrorism on residents.

George in an open letter to the governor that he personally signed, decried the plight of the traders, lamenting that they are not being treated ‘excellently’ by the security agents.

“Apart from lamenting the multiple levies they pay to councils and at the same time subjected to extortion in a most horrendous manner by some thugs and rough-necks,  they are also harassed and flogged like criminals.”

He recalled the glorious days of the city as place of trading and business.

“I was born in Lagos and I grew up here.  I know street trading has been part of our culture and tradition for decades, even before Independence on October 1, 1960. Many professionals today like lawyers, doctors,  engineers,  accountants and others were financed educationally by what their parents made through street trading.

“In London, New York and other advanced cities, there is street trading. What authorities in those climes do is to regulate street trading, not to subject traders to despicable treatment.

“In Lagos, some of these traders and hawkers, due to the harsh and hostile economy in the land, stay on the roadside where they pay government officials daily. This is because some shops inside markets go for as high as N1 million and more. Where are they going to get such amount from in this type of economy?”

George lamented that in the 21st Century, it is an act of wickedness for government officials to be treating  street traders like bandits and terrorists in Lagos State.

“Where is our dignity? Why should officials subject them to harrowing experience on a daily basis? They are not armed robbers and they should not be treated as such. It is despicable to treat street traders like terrorists. They are just trying to survive and Lagos is not the only place where we have street traders. 

He therefore, suggested that Sanwo-Olu  administration need do is to regulate their activities.

“You can also set up skill acquisition programmes for some of them so that they don’t become idle. 

“Remember that an idle hand is the devil’s workshop. After daily payment, they will be hounded into vans and trucks, their wares confiscated and they will be locked up,” he lamented.

 According the former military governor of old Ondo state,  “locking them up is not the solution to street trading. Some of these traders have children in tertiary institutions today and it is what they make they  use to take care of educational needs of those who depend on them.

“Mr. Governor, we all know what led to  Arab Spring  in North Africa years ago. That should not be allowed  to happen here at all. We should not deceive ourselves that the Nigerian Spring cannot happen here because  people are hungry and angry. 

“I appeal to you to revisit the issue of street traders before it gets out of hand. The essence of governance is to alleviate the suffering of the masses. Imagine the  government  announcing that its Environmental Sanitation Corps arrested no fewer than 63 people for allegedly crossing the highway and engaging in illegal street trading. Offenders of highway rule can be reprimanded to discourage others from committing the  same offence. 

“But, street traders are respectable members of the society who strive every day for their living, irrespective of the difficult times they are facing. It is wrong for them to be treated with unimaginable disdain while loafers and urchins are left roaming the streets and our neighbourhoods.”