Dei-Dei Market Clash: Slain Victims’ Families Get N500,000 Each As Traders Await Compensation

The Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Muhammad Bello, has approved N500,000 each for the families of about 10 people killed during the clash between traders and commercial motorcyclists at Dei-Dei in Abuja.

The clash had led to the razing of shops at the Dei-Dei Timber Market, Abuja, and the subsequent closure of the popular market.

The minister ordered the reopening of the Dei-Dei market and other adjoining markets on Thursday, during which his representative announced compensation for families of about 10 people that lost their lives.

However, traders whose shops, cars, and goods were burnt during the violence have yet to be compensated.

The vice-chairman of the market’s union, Ifeanyi Chigbata, told THE WHISTLER on Friday that the minister’s representative said nothing about compensation for the traders while declaring the market open.

Chigbata said, “We went for a meeting yesterday with the FCT minister. The minister (representative) opened the market yesterday but asked us to resume today.

“He didn’t say anything regarding the compensation of those whose shops and goods were burnt, but he talked about the compensation of those that died.

“We were told that about five people including the woman on a motorcycle died on the day of the incident because the day the minister visited, about four corpses were seen that day but according to a report yesterday, they said about 10 persons died.

“I don’t know how many people the permanent secretary compensated but he gave N500,000 to each of them.”

He added that the management of the Abuja Market Management Limited promised to speak to the government on their behalf.

The minister had met with major stakeholders of the Dei-Dei community, where he noted that the market would be re-organised and placed under relevant and proper supervision
The stakeholders were said to have agreed that the Dei-Dei market incident was a traffic accident hijacked by hoodlums and not religious or ethnic-related.

“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.

“Our meeting concludes 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,” he said