Pandemonium broke out on Tuesday in Abeokuta, Ogun State, when some men, suspected to be loyalists of Governor Ibikunle Amosun, invaded Lafenwa Market, venue of the disbursement of TraderMoni and disrupted the programme.
The men, led by the Chairman, Abeokuta North-West Local Council Development Area, Monsuru Shorunke, also took away the Iyaloja of the market, Mrs Ramotalai Olatunji, but returned her few minutes later.
TraderMoni is a Federal Government intervention programme for petty traders under the Government Enterprise and Empowerment Programme.
Our correspondent gathered that handlers of the TraderMoni had arrived at the market and were documenting the traders’ bio-data using their Permanent Voter Cards before event was disrupted.
When The PUNCH got to the market, the Iyaloja was seen giving N500 to each of the traders at the market.
It was gathered that Iyaloja gave out the money to the traders in replacement of the TraderMoni fund.
The LCDA chairman, Shorunke, confirmed that he led some “boys to Lafenwa on the order of Governor Ibikunle Amosun.”
He said he went there when news filtered in that some politicians “were giving the traders money in exchange for their PVCs.”
He said, “I was in front of the governor when we heard that some people came to Lafenwa Market, collecting PVCs from the traders in exchange for money.
“The governor said we should go and find out what was happening.
“We took the Iyaloja to the governor’s house along with the Babaloja of Lafenwa.
“We believe that it was wrong for them to collect people’s PVCs before election day. That was what they came to do at Lafenwa and it is wrong.”
Neither the Special Adviser to Amosun, Rotimi Durojaiye, nor the governor’s Special Assistant, Eshiomohmo Imoudu, could not be reached as their phones rang out. Messages sent to their phones were not replied to.
The Punch
