Ogun government demolishes market at 2 am, traders lose ₦500 million
Ogun State officials demolished Mowe/Ofada Market without notice, destroying goods worth ₦500 million and leaving traders destitute.
Ogun State government officials demolished the Mowe/Ofada Market in the Obafemi Owode Local Government Area at about 2:00 am on Saturday. Traders arrived in the morning to find their stalls flattened and armed policemen stationed around the market.
No official notice was issued. Kabira Ajiboye, an affected trader, said officials from the Ministry of Urban and Physical Planning had visited in 2023 during the local government election period, planning to demolish the structures. The exercise was suspended after traders explained they had paid the required rents to the local government authority.
This time, there was no warning. “We arrived at our stalls this morning only to discover that everything had been demolished. Goods worth over ₦500 million have been destroyed,” Ajiboye said. She added that many traders had obtained loans to finance their businesses and were now uncertain how they would recover.
The State Commissioner for Urban and Physical Planning, Tunji Odunlami, declined to comment.
The demolition echoes the pattern seen across Nigeria’s major cities: forced evictions carried out in the dead of night, without notice, without compensation, without alternative locations. The victims are always the same: traders who depend entirely on their businesses for survival.
The winners: the government officials who ordered the demolition. The losers: thousands of traders who lost their livelihoods, and the local government that lost the rent payments it had previously collected.
Bottom Line: A 2 am demolition with no notice. ₦500 million in destroyed goods. Armed policemen standing guard. This is not urban planning. This is state-sponsored destruction.