Gist
Anambra Traders Protest Alleged Extortion by SON
Vendors at the Building Materials Market in Ogidi and Ogbunike, inside the Idemili and Oyi Local Government Areas of Anambra State, demonstrated on Friday against what they claimed to be “illegal shop sealing” and “extortion” by the Standard Organisation of Nigeria (SON).
Naija News reports that the spokesman for the traders, Kenneth Ofoegbunam, told reporters that certain SON officials had been requesting N8 million from the traders for an unspecified offence.
Ofoegbunam said, “The officials of SON came into our market this morning to impound our goods and sealed some shops because we refused to pay the N8 million they demanded from us.
“They first came about three weeks ago and sealed four shops out of 30 shops. They also told us that they would seal more shops unless we paid N8 million for an offense they did not disclose to us. They said ‘Just pay N8 million and you are set free from embarrassment’ and we said no.
“Then after some days they came again with personnel of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps and we chased them away. Today they reinforced, came with five Hilux load of policemen, NCDC, and other security men, and made straight to the shops they sealed previously to impound the goods therein but we resisted them.
“They started shooting guns into the air to scare us and in the process, they made away with some goods estimated into millions of naira. As I talk to you now, the owners of the impounded goods have urged the state government to come to their rescue
“We are saying that the SON personnel should leave us alone, we are doing legitimate business in this market. SON should be confined only at the Wharf and country borders and not markets.”
Placards reading “SON, enough is enough,” “Say no to illegal extortion by SON,” “SON, stop intimidating us,” “SON, stop demanding money from us,” and “SON go to Wharf not markets” were among the messages carried by the demonstrators during the protest.
