Ooni outlaws market groups over high cost of food

Akinwande Olajire, leader of market heads in Ile-Ife, Osun State, announced that Ooni of Ife, Oba Adeyeye Ogunwusi, has outlawed market groups in the town, citing their involvement in the exorbitant prices of food items in the area.

A video footage of Olajire speaking to traders at a local market in Ile-Ife circulated widely on social media on Saturday.

According to Olajire, who addressed the issue in Yoruba, Oba Ogunwusi’s decision to suspend market associations was prompted by their involvement in the steep increase in food prices.

He said groups of traders dealing in various food items have been involving in fixing cost of goods, even when they have bought the items cheaply from farms.

Explaining further on the action of the monarch, Olajire said “Ooni of Ife, Oba Adeyeye Ogunwusi, sent me to the markets across Ife. You must have seen one of videos that we recorded during the visits. I am the Babaloja of Ejigbomekun market also known as Oja tuntun. I am the leader of Babalojas in Ife.

“Baba Ooni and his Chiefs have been told of unjustifiable amount traders are selling food items in markets in the town and one of the measures to check this is the ban he placed on market groups. These groups are fixing prices for their members and we don’t want that. Traders should be free to sell at cheap rate, if they are able to buy at cheap rate from farms. The groups have been banned.

“We have locked all the identified places these markets groups are using for their meetings and we will keeping monitoring them. If anyone is caught acting to intimidate traders for selling at cheap prices, such a person will face consequences.

“We also received several complaints from these traders about how motorists and others are extorting them. We will act on their complaint but they cant sell at prices we consider too high in our markets.”