The Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Malam Muhammad Bello has ordered the immediate reopening of the Dei Dei building material market for commercial activities, downplaying the recent crisis that engulfed the location as a traffic accident hijacked by hoodlums, not an ethnic occurrence as being promulgated in several quarters.
Africa Today News, New York gathered that the market had been under lock and key for about nine days, following a crisis that broke out on May 18, 2022.
But the market will be officially reopened on Friday, May 27th, 2022 for business.
Bello made this disclosure on Thursday, May 26th, following a meeting with major Dei-Dei community stakeholders at the FCDA Conference Hall in Garki, Abuja.
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The Minister said all participants in the meeting agreed that the Dei-Dei market riot was a traffic accident hijacked by hoodlums, not an ethnic occurrence.
The meeting also resolved to reorganise the market and place it under supervising authorities.
‘This morning, we held a very important meeting with the stakeholders of the Dei Dei community, the leadership and the head of that community, His Royal Highness, Dr Idris Musa, MFR, the Sarkin Jiwa and all the leaders of the five major markets within that community, as well as religious leaders.
‘Basically, we reaffirmed the need for peace in that community, as well as FCT in general, and discussed at length, all issues relating to last week’s incident that led to the destruction of properties and unfortunately, loss of lives.
‘The conclusion of our meeting is that all the communities agreed that what happened was not a tribal or religious crisis. What happened was just an unfortunate accident that was overtaken by hoodlums in the community who created havoc. The general consensus now is that every community will make sure that miscreants and hoodlums are flushed out’.
Bello also said the meeting equally resolved that many of the structures in the market were erected in non-conformity with the Abuja Masterplan and corrective measures will be taken to correct these development anomalies.
On the activities of commercial motorcyclists known popularly as Okada, the Minister said their operations will be brought under full regulation and control.