Honourable wife bathed in hot pepper soup over Yaba market LCDA revenuecollection.

For Mrs. Oluwayemi Monsurat Owolabi, wife of Hon. Owolabi Alaoseniyan, a former member of Lagos State House of Representatives, representing Lagos Mainland Constituency, the sight of a steaming bowl of pepper soup, a local delicacy, will elicit fear in her for years to come.

It was with the hot substance that she was bathed in the evening of Monday, 12th of October, 2015 by social miscreants allegedly on the orders of a woman with whom she has been having a running battle.

Trailing the conflicts that led to the attack, Daily Times gathered that Monsurat has been having a long feud with the suspect since she first appeared on the scene some years ago, presenting herself as the one who would be collecting tariffs from traders at Yaba Market.

“Some years ago, this woman came and presented herself as the one who will be collecting revenues on behalf of the local government, I, as the Iyaloja, asked her to go and bring a letter of introduction from the local government to that effect. This didn’t go down well with her and she threatened she would deal with me.

“But after that she started collecting revenues from the market and we were complying. Things however got awry when we were asked by the Lagos State Environmental Task Force to move into Tejuosho Main Market as they wanted to demolish the market. I told the task force officials that Tejuosho Market is under Surulere Local Government jurisdiction while Yaba Market is under Yaba Local Development Council.

“The task force officials told me to inform the local council to come and defend our case; it however came as a surprise to me when I went to the Executive Secretary (ES) who is the caretaker chairman to the LCDA and I was told that they were not going to intervene as the market was not remitting any money into the coffers of the LCDA.

“I disclosed to the ES that we were remitting our revenue as at when due to the woman; the ES asked us to go and fetch the woman and ask her to come with the receipt of money she remitted to the LCDA. This led to a further shocking discovery that the last time the woman remitted any money into the account of the LCDA was in 2012.”

In order to save the market from the demolition threat, the Iyaloja said she volunteered to collect some additional revenue from the market and pay it into the coffers of the LCDA, but, not after she had informed her co-traders not to pay any money to the woman until further notice. This was said to have infuriated the woman who swore to deal with Monsurat for trying to usurp her authority.

“She told me that it will be over her dead body before I can be able to collect any money from the market, she solicited the assistance of another person in the area and together they continued collecting the tolls from the market. A part of the market was paying to me while other parts of the market were paying to her. With the money I was able to raise, we were able to save the market from been demolished.”

If Monsurat thought that peace would reign after that, she was mistaken as the woman made good her threat of dealing with her on the evening of Monday, October 12th, 2015.

According to the Iyaloja, “earlier that day, Lagos State task force officials came to Yaba market and chased those selling by the roadside; in the process, some wares belonging to some traders were seized. I was called as the Iyaloja and I promised to ensure the release of the wares. As I was coming, I saw some people still displaying their wares on the road and I instructed them not to display their goods by the road as instructed by Lagos State Task Force.

“You know that refusal to adhere cause us to be penalised and I would be blamed for non compliance.

“But as I made to bend down to remove some of the wares displayed on the cars of some of the traders, I felt a heavy drenching of hot liquid on my back and I saw my body emitting steam, it didn’t take long for me to realise that it was hot pepper soup that had just been prepared that was poured on me.

“I lost consciousness and was rushed to a private hospital but was rejected because of the degree of the burns I suffered. From the private hospital I was rushed to another hospital before I was referred to Gbagada General Hospital where I am still receiving treatment,” she wept as she spoke.