Gov. Abiola Ajimobi of Oyo State:

Gbenro Adesina/Ibadan

Following the determination of the Oyo State Government to relocate butchers to the central abattoir at Amosun Village, Akinyele Ibadan, violent crisis erupted on Thursday at Bodija Market.

The Bodija Market’s butchers who are not prepared for relocation for several reasons embarked on protest which was gathered to have resulted into the burning down of the police station situated at the market.

One of the reaons for resistances was that at the the new abattoir, butchers will pay tax of N3000 per cow slaughtered.

However, the state Government has shut down Bodija market over what it descibed as ‘security reasons’ in  the aftermath of the  protest which was charactrised by sporadic shooting which occurred in the market and its environs.

The  Aare Laatosa Loca Council Development Area, LCDA, Chairman, Mr. Adekunle Oladeji, said the closure is to prevent the loss of lives and property of the citizenry, stressing that It is also to guard against the escalation of the violence in the market to other parts of the state.

Oladeji said that security agencies have been intimated about the situation in the market to maintain law and order.

He urged the people to be law abiding, warning that anyone found wanting will be made to face the full wrath of the law.

It would be recalled that yesterday, the attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, Mr. Oluseun Abimbola said that the state government has constituted a taskforce to enforce the butchers relocation to central abattoir at Amosun Village, Akinyele Ibadan, stating that taskforce comprises of Nigeria Police, Civil Defense Corps, DSS, Ministries of Environment, Agriculture, Physical Planning and Bureau of Investment Promotions.

Mr. Abimbola reiterated that the government decided to relocate the abattoirs in Ibadan to finally curb the unhealthy process of slaughtering of animals, offer of dead, sick and unwholesome animals in various markets, backyard slaughter slabs and many contraptions and make-shift slaughter houses in unhealthy environment with obnoxious practices, stressing that the State Government had in partnership with the private sector established a 3000 per day capacity mechanized slaughter facility at Amosun village, Akinyele L. G. as a viable  and state of the art facility for all abattoir services within  Ibadan.

The Attorney General said that the government regretted that after giving the Butchers four years to wind up and paying no taxes, the Ministry of Agriculture observed that some unscrupulous persons among the Butchers’ Union in Oyo State, rather than wind up, were in fact establishing new slaughter locations in unhygienic environment with no certification of government, no veterinary presence for inspection of animals for slaughter, nor approval of the said abattoirs by relevant authorities of government.