[Iyaa!!] Enugu market closure: Awusa cattle traders demand N50bn compensation

[Iyaa!!] Enugu market closure: Northern traders demand N50bn compensation

Traders in the New Artisan Market, otherwise referred to as Goat Market, Enugu, on Thursday demanded N50bn as compensation from the Enugu State Government for the closure of the market.

The majority of the traders in the market are livestock dealers from the North.

The Enugu State Government had, on December 19, 2016, ordered the traders to vacate their shops and living quarters in the market after a policeman, one Corporal Gabriel Ugwu of the Anti-Cult Unit of the Enugu State Police Command, was killed by a mob reportedly made up of tricycle riders.

The traders asked a Federal High Court in Enugu to order the state government to pay them N50bn as damages after they were forcefully evicted from the market following a December 20, 2016 resolution in which the Enugu State House of Assembly ordered the relocation of the market from Enugu metropolis to another area.

However, in a judgment on Thursday, the court, presided by Justice Rosemary Oghoghorie, declined jurisdiction in the suit jointly filed by the northern traders and a human rights organisation, the Civil Rights Realisation and Advancement Network.

In the judgment, Justice Oghoghorie held that since the reliefs sought by the applicants bother on land, it was the state high court, rather than the FHC, that had jurisdiction over the matter.

“By virtue of section 22 of the Federal High Court Act, the case is hereby transferred to the State High Court,” Justice Oghoghorie declared.

But, reacting to the development, the northern traders insisted on the payment of the N50bn damages by the state government, saying they would appeal the judgment.

The spokesman for the northern traders, Hamza Buba, said they would use ‘every lawful means’ to compel the state government to pay the damages.

He noted that the court was wrong to state that the suit bothered on land.