‘2am bulldozers, no warning’: Ogun govt demolishes Mowe/Ofada Market, destroys N500m worth of goods

Hundreds of traders at the Mowe/Ofada Market in Ogun State’s Obafemi Owode Local Government Area woke up on Saturday to find their shops demolished and goods worth over N500 million buried under rubble, after government officials allegedly carried out the demolition at 2am without any prior notice.

The bulldozers came at 2am. By morning, everything was gone.

Traders at the Mowe/Ofada Market in Obafemi Owode Local Government Area of Ogun State arrived at their stalls on Saturday morning to a devastating scene — shops levelled, goods buried under rubble and armed policemen stationed around the perimeter. The demolition, they alleged, was carried out without a single word of warning.

“There was no demolition notice whatsoever,” said Mrs. Kabira Ajiboye, one of the affected traders, who described the scale of destruction as catastrophic. “Goods worth over N500 million have been destroyed.”

Ajiboye recounted that officials from the Ministry of Urban and Physical Planning had visited the market in 2023 during the local government election period with similar demolition intentions, but stood down after traders demonstrated they had been paying rent to the local government authority. This time, she said, there was no such engagement — just machinery in the dark.

“In 2023, officials from the ministry came here during the local government election period, but when we explained that we paid our rents to the local government, they left without carrying out the demolition. This time, they did not issue any notice. We arrived at our stalls this morning only to discover that everything had been demolished,” she said.

Sahara Reporters reported that beyond the lack of notice, traders expressed outrage at the callousness of the timing and execution — an overnight operation that gave no one the opportunity to salvage their merchandise.

“At the very least, they should have shown compassion by allowing us to remove our goods before demolishing our shops. How can you inflict such hardship on people and still expect them to support the government?” Ajiboye asked.

The traders have appealed directly to Ogun State Governor Dapo Abiodun to intervene and provide an alternative trading site so affected families can begin rebuilding their livelihoods.

As of the time of filing this report, the Ogun State Government had issued no official statement on the demolition or responded to the traders’ allegations.