Ogige Market Demolition: Tears, Loss, and a Community That Never Forgot

By Hon Stanley 

Few years ago, one painful morning that will never be forgotten in Nska, traders at Ogige Market arrived at their shops only to meet heavy-duty caterpillars stationed in front of the park, engines idling, waiting for a final directive. There was tension in the air. Uncertainty. Fear. Then came the confirmation from the state government, an order to demolish over 10,000 shops at the very heart of the market.

I write this not just as an observer, but as someone directly affected. My late father was one of the victims.

By about 10am, the machines moved in. No meaningful notice. No structured plan for relocation. No compensation. Shops that took decades of sweat and sacrifice to acquire were brought down within minutes. Ifesinachi Park was not spared. Peace Mass Transit plaza was caught in the chaos. Traders were seen scrambling, rushing to salvage whatever they could while demolition was already ongoing. It was a moment of deep sorrow. Grown men and women wept openly. Livelihoods collapsed in real time, and there was nothing anyone could do to stop it.

Till today, one keeps asking: what truly justified that scale of destruction against the people of Nska?

The first reason given was “development”, a claim that a modern terminal would be built. But development, in its true sense, does not begin with wiping out people’s means of survival without a clear and immediate replacement. Development thrives on planning, not displacement. Existing structures could have been upgraded. A phased reconstruction could have been adopted. But that was not the path chosen.

The second reason, though unspoken in official circles, was widely perceived among the people: that Nska did not align politically with the sitting government, they did not vote for the governor and therefore its economic backbone had to be weakened.

Fast forward over three years later, what stands today on that same space? A fuel station. The same park, reduced and restructured, with a few shops carved out and sold at millions of naira to Nska politicians. That is what remains after the destruction of thousands of livelihoods. The grand promise of a modern terminal and large-scale development has not translated into any meaningful reality for the people.

Across Nska zone, the story is the same. No visible transformation matching the scale of what was lost. No significant road network improvement that reflects the sacrifice imposed on traders. The so-called smart school initiative lies abandoned in several locations, overtaken by weeds and neglect.

Yet, another phase has emerged, what can only be described as the tomorrow arranged endorsement. Nsukka Local Government is now mobilizing traders to shut down their shops and come out to endorse the governor and President Tinubu ahead of 2027. But this “tomorrow” is not new; it is a repeated political pattern.

The same script is being prepared again. Promises of road construction will be announced. Fresh project flags will be raised. And once more, crowds will be staged. Some Nsukka people will be hired, given small stipends, dressed in uniform, and positioned to clap, cheer, and create the appearance of mass approval. But behind the optics lies a community that has seen this cycle before.

Meanwhile, these are traders still recovering from past disruption. People who lost capital, who buried relatives, who never fully recovered from that demolition exercise. Many still have goods locked away in villages, unable to restart properly. Their concern remains survival, not staged politics.

Why then continue to stretch a people already stretched beyond capacity? Why turn hardship into a political tool?

The truth remains unchanged. Memory does not expire with campaign seasons. Nska remembers. And when 2027 arrives, Nd Nsk will not be arranged for endorsement, they will express their own verdict in silence and in votes.

by Hon Stanley