THE President of Ibadan Foodstuff Sellers Association, Alhaji Musliudeen Olalekan Azeez, a.k.a Energy whose colleagues were murdered at Mungunu area of Borno State, has said that the late traders had on them more than N25 million.
Azeez in a chat with journalists said the money was a contribution from several traders in the market, saying the enormity of the loss is too big to bear.
He said “although, the money is nothing compared to the lives of the promising young men, but we have to put it on record that aside those that died, some people have also been injured investment wise. Even the their relatives could suffer from the fallouts of the huge amount because it is possible that some of them threw in their total capital into the trip. In that case, you can imagine what will be going on in various homes of all that are affected those that lost their loves ones and money.”
It would be recalled that that 10 members of Bodija were allegedly killed by the sect members on Friday June 28.
When Seye Adegboyega, a trader left Ibadan for Maiduguri, Borno State, he was full of dreams and ambition. Aside looking forward to seeing a day when his wife, Anu will have their baby, the 35-year-old trader had promised his immediate younger sister, Opeyemi, to help her realise some of her childhood dreams.
So, when the news of his death was broken to his family members, Opeyemi, in particular, knew that those chats and discussions with her brother had gone up in smoke.
Opeyemi, in a chat with the Nigerian Tribune revealed that she had an appointment with her brother on certain family matters anytime he returned from that trip, but that was not to be.
Opeyemi said “as siblings, we discussed so many issues, especially on areas of him offering assistance to me in my business. The last time we met, he promised me so many things on his return from his trip, but his sudden death did not allow that to come to pass. As his sister, I will miss him because of his position in the family and love for me, his drive to assist with the last drop of his blood. What can I say now that death, especially in this situation did not allow all those promises to come to pass?”
Opeyemi added that Seye had been buried in his house at Amuloko, Ibadan, while his wife, Anu, a fashion designer is currently staying put with family members at their Olorunsogo family house.
On Wednesday, commercial activities at the market was not very active 24 hours after the corpses of the victims were brought home and handed over to their various family members for proper burial.
A market woman who spoke with journalists, Mrs Bola Lawal said “we shut our shops in honour of our late members killed by Boko Haram, we’re in a state of mourning.”
However, armed police personnel were fully present at the market environment and at every corner which according to the market association’s Public Relations Officer (PRO), Mr Akeem Emiola who spoke on behalf of the Chairman of the market union, Mr Olalekan Azeez, was to forestall a repraisal by Yoruba traders in the market.
Emiola added that the executive members of the market did not order any of the traders to shut their shops but they were being sympathetic with their members. He also dismissed any possibility of protest, saying “it is not in our plan to carry out any protest.
“We have been working together peacefully until the unfortunate incident. Security at the market is very tight now, we have appealed to our members to maintain peace. It is our responsibility to work and that of the government is to provide security, but they have failed us,” he said.
He pointed out that during the last attack of May 5, the executive committee of the union banned the traders from going to the North but had to lift the ban when the Hausa traders were bringing in their goods from the North. “We then lifted the ban because they were making more money while our people were suffering. This is the third trip after we lifted the ban, see what has happened to our people now.”
Meanwhile, the two survivors, Taoreed Azeez and Ibrahim Ademola, Nigerian Tribune learnt were advised to stay off public view. One of them was reported to have relocated to Lagos State for some time now.
Also, a senior beans merchant whose apprentices were among those murdered, one Alhaji Musa a.k.a 77 Elewa, said “The loss is too much. We are still grieving. What can I say now? My boys were among those who were murdered by the Boko Haram in Borno State. Fatai Kareem and Femi Oyetunde were our people from the market. Whenever we want to go and buy from the north, some of us would gather money and ask a few people to buy for us. That was what happened last week.
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