By CHINALUM OBIDIKE
At least one person lost his life in Enugu on Wednesday when traders at the Enugu Central Market, Ogbete, were protesting against the sealing of their shop by the state government for observing sit at home order last Monday.
The dead was allegedly shot by Anti- riot Police trying to stop the protest. Many other people sustained various degrees of injury.
On Monday this week, the government sealed the shops of traders who did not open their shops on because of the sit at home order by Finland-based Simon Ekpa, factional leader of the proscribed Indigenous Peoples Of Biafra, IPOB.
Reports say the traders in Ogbete market were protesting peacefully in the market environment over the sealing of their shops by the state government before police intercepted them and started shooting in the air.
According to them, “We are angry, to open shop is not by force. State government should leave us alone to do our business”.
One of the traders, popularly known as Lasisi told our correspondent that, “They’ve been shooting and killing people in the market here.
“The traders started protesting here because those whose shops were closed because of the sit-at-home were asked to pay money before their shops will be reopened.
“They said they will not part with any money and that was how the protest started.
“The protesters started making bonfires on the roads and the police moved armoured tanks into the market, started indiscriminate shooting and killed people. Some got bullet injuries and others got different forms of wounds.
Teargas were being shot and pandemonium ensured,” he narrated.
