...Journalists escape lynching

Aggrieved traders around Eid ground, on Wednesday, staged a protest over demolition of their makeshift shops by the Kano State Urban Planning and Development Authority, KNUPDA.

Information gathered by Vanguard correspondent has it that the officials of KNUPDA had earlier served a 48-hour notice on the traders numbering over 5,000 to quit the area located around IBB Way in the state capital.

Upon the expiration of the 48-hour deadline, the officials rolled out heavy earth-moving equipment, saying the traders were occupying the area illegally.

A visit to the demolished site found that virtually all the stalls were removed from the site, revealing the four walls of the Eid ground, which had earlier been covered by the makeshift shops.

However, many of the angry traders had remained at the site, calling officials of the state government and those of KNUPDA unprintable names.

Some of the traders lamented that they had occupied the market area for 18 years and had no place to evacuate to now that they had been evicted.

The demolition exercise was coming barely a few days to the eId-el-Kabir celebrations, when thousands of customers from within and outside the state were making last-minute Sallah purchases at the market for the upcoming Sallah festival.

Meanwhile, a team of journalists working with the Media Trust Group, MTG, escaped lynching as some hoodlums launched an attack on them in the process of covering the protest amid the demolition exercise.