Okada/Traders Clash: Minister Orders Markets Closure In Dei-Dei

Following a disturbance in Abuja’s Dei-Dei neighborhood on Wednesday that left eight people dead and valuables destroyed, the FCT Minister, Malam Muhammad Musa Bello, has ordered the closure of all marketplaces in the region.

Following an accident that resulted in the death of the rider’s passenger, a conflict erupted on Wednesday between vendors largely from the Abuja Timber market in the neighborhood and Okada riders.

As a result, the traders lynched the involved commercial rider and set fire to his motorbike, as well as other impounded vehicles.

The circumstance resulted in the fires of around twenty establishments connected to the Timber market, as well as 10 automobiles parked there. According to eyewitnesses who talked to the Daily Trust, the altercation began about 11 a.m., grew in intensity with the entrance of security officers around 1 p.m., and culminated in the killing of six persons from bullets reportedly fired from within the market against others just outside the facility.

The minister, however, paid a visit to the area on Wednesday, accompanied by the Commissioner of Police for the Federal Capital Territory, Mr Sunday Babajia; the Director of the Department of State Services; and Chairman of the Abuja Municipal Area Council, AMAC Abdullahi Adamu Candido, among others.

Bello expressed his condolences for the loss of life and property, and he ordered the facility, as well as other nearby marketplaces, to close immediately.

He entrusted them with providing full support in identifying and prosecuting the bad apples among their ranks.