Members of the Trade Fair's Board of Trustees have asserted that LAWMA's actions constituted an abrupt and unjust closure
. Responding to queries from the press about this unexpected shutdown, the former Chairman of the Trade Fair and Board of Trustees, Chief Daniel Oforkansi, who is also the Chairman of ASPAMDA, stating, "I fail to comprehend why LAWMA seems to disregard our humanity. There was no prior information or official communication regarding this matter; they simply arrived and locked our shops without warning."
“We are not owing them; we have receipts and evidence to prove it. And when you talk of markets in Nigeria and across Africa, the Lagos International Trade Fair is the pride of Africa. So you cannot quantify the amount that has been lost for just a day. The N2 billion cash transaction is too small to quantify the loss for today alone. So I don’t know what LAWMA is thinking about, but I know that in due time, the law will take its course.”
Also speaking, the Trade Fair Stakeholders Forum, the umbrella body for the 62 associations in the Complex, Chief Eric Ilechukwu, said, “I didn’t expect such an unwarranted move to be made by LAWMA at a critical time as this when people are still wailing over fuel subsidy removal by this administration.
“We are already wounded, and many of our people are seeing it as unjust victimization of Igbos by the Lagos government.”
Efforts to reach the LAWMA’s Director of Head of Public Affairs, Mrs.Folashade Kadiri proved abortive as she was not responding to calls, text messages, or WhatsApp messages from our correspondent.
