Hoodlums suspected to be cultists have clashed with members of Rivers State Government Task Force on street trading and unauthorized motor parks last Thursday following attempts by the task force to evict illegal traders from the Mile 3 motor park in Diobu, Port Harcourt.
According to a source, the hoodlums who specialized in collecting illegal fee from the traders, on sighting the Government Task Force members threw stones and broken bottles on them which made them to scamper for safety.
Eyewitness account revealed that some of the task force members were injured as a result of the attack. The eyewitness account explained that members of the task force later re-inforced and came back to the place with Police officers but the hoodlums had fled the scene before their arrival.
Our correspondent who visited the place reports that pieces of broken bottles and stones littered food items like garri, baskets of tomatoes, vegetables and others which were impounded were seen in the patrol van of the task force.
A member of the task force who spoke under condition of anonymity revealed that the matter had been reported to the state and local Government authorities and directives had been issued to security operatives to fish out the hoodlums accused of illegally renting spaces for traders in the park.
The member of the task force explained that they had also been instructed to ensure such market does not thrive in mile 3 park hence forth.
Further investigations by National Network shows that some of the motor parks in Port Harcourt and Obi/Akpor local governments of the state are used as market which made the parks to be very congested and dirty. Investigations also showed that the rate of conversion of motor parks to markets increased after street traders were removed from major junction in the cities.
Our correspondent who visited Mile 3 Park on Monday morning reported that large numbers of traders who were normally seen at the park especially early in the morning were no longer there as at the time of filing this report.
The Rivers State Governor, Chief (Barr) Nyesom Ezebuwon Wike, a month ago inaugurated the task force with the mandate of ensuring the streets of Port Harcourt are cleared of illegal motor parks and street traders. This was done with the sole aim of returning the city to its status of Garden City of Nigeria.
