Enugu State Government has demolished
stalls at the Old Park Market in Enugu
metropolis without first relocating the 890
affected traders, despite a sub-sisting order of
an Enugu State High Court, which forbids it
from doing so. Apart from the statutory shop owners in the
market, at least 2,000 other traders doing
business in the market are to be displaced as
the state government had served a fresh
eviction notice to enable it demolish the entire
structures in the market with effect from today. In the first phase of the demolition exercise
carried out under the supervision of Enugu
Capital Territory Development Authority, ECTDA,
about 66 stalls were brought down, while the
remaining 824 were marked for demolition. Government had last year indicated interest to
relocate the traders in the market to enable it
erect a shopping mall in the place and asked
the affected traders to move to the new
market on Aria Road. However, when government began to issue
quit notices to the affected traders, the traders
proceeded to court on the ground that the so-
called alternative allocation was not real. In the suit on their behalf by Ifeanyichukwu
Eneh against the state government and Enugu
Capital Territory, the traders had sought the
protection of their property rights.
The court had, in both interim and
interlocutory orders, restrained the state government from demolishing the stalls
without providing alternative place to the
affected traders. Some of the affected traders, who spoke on
the development, yesterday, said they were
shocked to arrive their shop on Friday to
discover a notice from the state government,
urging them to “park out without an
alternative place,” even when there was a subsisting court order barring government
from demolishing the stalls.
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