Thousands of traders, including artisans that operate in Wuse market may have been denied their daily means of livlihood following total barricade of the market by police operatives.
Hundreds of heavily armed policemen led by an Area commander, a female kept watch over the market and prevented shop owners access to their shops.
All shops and stalls in the market was under locks.Although, newsmen were given access into the market.
Police action was triggered by pandemonium in the market on Tuesday, following the shooting of an innocent person by officers of Correctional service.
Angry youths was said to have set parts of the popular market on fire over killing of a 17-year-old hawker simply.
FCT police command had simply described the killing and imbroglio that followed as ‘civil unrest’.
According to spokesperson of the command, SP Jospehine Adeh on Tuesda, “Following the report of a civil unrest at Wuse Market today being March 12, 2024 at about 3:30 pm, the Commissioner of Police FCT Command, CP Benneth Igweh personally led a team of Police operatives to the scene, assessed and swiftly restored order.
“Preliminary investigation revealed that one Ibrahim Yahaya ‘27 years’ was apprehended by operatives of the Abuja Environmental Protection Board (AEPB) Task Force and was taken before a mobile court which sits every Tuesday in Wuse Market, and he was convicted.
“Suspect alongside others were being conveyed to the prison, when he reportedly jumped from the vehicle and took to his heels in an attempt to escape. Two armed corrections personnel who were in the vehicle went after him and in the process, shot him. The said Ibrahim Yahaya was immediately rushed to a nearby hospital where doctors on ground confirmed him dead.
“The development led some irate mobs who witnessed the situation set ablaze eight vehicles and ten shops in the environ. The whole fire situation erupted uproar from residents but was brought under control by combined effort of Federal fire service and other security agencies present.
“While normalcy has since been restored, and investigation still ongoing, the Commissioner of Police FCT, CP Benneth Igweh psc, mni, enjoins residents to peacefully go about their lawful businesses without fear.”
Meanwhile, traders in the market are still calling for justice over their stained colleague, whom they described as innocent.
According to one of the traders, simply identified as Danladi, “I was the one who carried the dead body of our brother and dumped it in front of the police post on Tuesday. He is not a thief. He is a hardworking man who always look for his daily bread. His arrest was masterminded by head of Taskforce, who vowed to send him to jail.
“He did not want to go to jail, because he knew he did not commit any crime, that was why he jumped out of the Black Maria.”
Another trader, Hamisu, said: “They just killed him for nothing. Part of the market was not burnt by people inside the market, it was burnt by boys from Wuse 5 who were part of the people who carried his body. They did that out of anger.”
Some of the burnt and vandalized cars still litter the market today.
Meanwhile, police spokesperson, SP Josephine Adeh confirmed that the Correctional officer who did the kill is now in their custody.