SECURITY ALERT WITH JIDE

Mile 2 market leader denies alleged Boko Haram attack

The chairman of Mile 12 market in Lagos State, Muhammed Haruna, has denied the allegation that he was planning to attack the market and the state with members of the outlawed Boko Haram sect.

Addressing Newsmen in his office situated within the market, Haruna described the newspaper reports that he travelled to Borno State to recruit Boko Haram thugs to invade the market after a minor crisis last week as false and malicious.

According to him, those behind the rumour were those who wanted to destabilise the state and they had been reported to the police and other security agencies.

I have not travelled out of town. I have been here coordinating the affairs of the market while traders from all over the country and beyond have been going about their businesses without fears of disturbance from any quarters,” he said.

He disclosed that, “as a resident who has almost become a Yoruba man, and an executive member of the ruling Action Congress of Nigeria in Lagos and as a loyal disciple of the former governor of Lagos State, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, it would be ironical and absurd to turn round to cause mayhem in the state, which accommodates everybody as the son of the soil.”

While admitting that there was somebody with Boko Haram instincts within the market community,Haruna informed that, “he has been made to renounce it and sign and undertaking in the presence of the security agencies, government representatives and leadership of the community,” adding that “even his sponsor, who is an official in the state government has been reported to the appropriate authorities for investigation.”

He, therefore, urged the market community, traders as well as visitors to the market to go about their transactions without any form of fears of attack, just as he asked them to report any suspicious movement to the market leadership and the security operatives for necessary actions to prevent break down of law and order.