How Task-Force Made Trader To Shed Tears Openly

BY SANDRA BENEDICT

A middle aged trader, Mike Okeke was all tears Thursday at the Ojodu-Berger area of Lagos, just beside First Bank after he found his trading outlet sealed by a seemingly no-nonsense task-force.

The task-force, out to enforce environment cleanliness descended on Okeke and four others for allegedly failing to participate in the weekly Thursday exercise.

All the shops were located on the road, and Okeke who spoke to The Eagle said the task force’s action was unexpected, arguing they had always participated in the exercise without prompting.

 “All the shops in this line are locked because they did not do sanitation. Normally, we clean our environment every Thursday then by 10am we open our shops for sales”.

-How task-force-

He further said that “it was unusual” for these shops owners not to partake in the clean-up adding that “they are usually adherent and committed.”

Okeke’s argument was that the task-force acted after the exercise had elapsed, adding that even without any enforcement, that they had always done the needful.

Another shop owner who was affected by the closure, was livid with anger, saying there was no reason to implicate them since they duly participated in the exercise.

“The time for the sanitation exercise has not ended and I’ve been trying to explain to them that my child was sick and I had to take her to the hospital that was why I didn’t show up on time”.

“Everybody in this area knows that I always do the sanitation. Even a day before the environment exercise, I usually made sure I swept my space ahead.”

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His tears up to that time however did not convince the task-force team.

Efforts by The Eagle correspondent to get the side of the task force team failed; they were not willing to entertain any questions.