Phone dealers threaten to shut down Ikeja computer village for three days

Phone and Allied Product Dealers Association of Nigeria (PAPDAN) has threatened to closedown the Ikeja Computer Village in Lagos for three consecutive days, beginning from Yesterday, Monday in protest of the raid carried out by the Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON) on alleged fake phone dealers . PAPDAN is the association of mobile phone dealers at the Computer Village market. Chairman of PAPDAN, Mr. Godfrey Iyke Nwosu, who issued circular to all its members to boycott business at the ever busy market beginning from today, to protest the sudden raid on its members by SON on Saturday, told THISDAY that the decision to closedown the market for three days became necessary following the continued harassments by SON and heavily armed policemen on the traders.
“I have been at the police station since morning on the matter and this time around, we have to get to the root of the matter, because the incessant harassment is becoming unbearable, affecting legitimate business at the market,” Nwosu said. According to him, all phone dealers in the market would embark on a three-day peaceful protest with all shops locked during the period. The protest will commence on Monday through Wednesday before shops will be reopened in the Computer Village market, he further explained in a phone conversation with THISDAY. But in a swift reaction, the Secretary of Computer and Allied Products Dealers Association of Nigeria (CAPDAN), Mr. John Oboro, dismissed the threat to close down the entire Computer Village market, while insisting that business must go on in spite of the trouble. CAPDAN is the umbrella body of all traders at the Ikeja Computer Village. According to Oboro, PAPDAN is a subset of CAPDAN and had no right to shutdown the entire market in the name of peaceful protest. THISDAY had yesterday exclusively reported the pandemonium that broke out in the market on Saturday morning, following the sudden raid on suspected fake phone dealers by the management of SON. Trouble started when the suspected phone dealers tried to resist arrest by heavily armed policemen that accompanied SON to the market to clampdown on suspected fake phone dealers. The raid led to a complete breakdown of law and order at the Computer Village market, leading to a free-for-all. Policemen were forced to shoot sporadically into the air and used tear gas on the traders in order to effect arrest. Although arrests were made, but the manner at which the raid was carried out angered other market dealers, who started throwing stones and other weapons at the police as well as on nearby buildings. According to an eyewitness, the market community suspected that Tecno Mobile, one of the dealers of genuine mobile phones in the market, must have informed and invited SON to raid the market of suspected fake phone dealers. The anger, according to eyewitness, made the traders to attack 3C Hub glass building located inside Computer Village. The building was built and owned by Tecno Mobile, and the attack led to the chattering of the entire glass building. The situation became chaotic and uncontrollable at some point in time, leading to closure of shops in the computer village for fear of looting. The shops were however reopened for business during the later part of the day on Saturday.