“What’s next for me,” this trader seems to be wondering as she looks at the ruins of the market where she was once earning her daily bread

Images from the fallen and buried of Gosa market.

Gosa, a popular market for the rich and the poor, located along Airport road, Abuja, was finally demolished on Saturday, 24th of March by the bulldozers of authorities of Federal Capital Territory, accompanied by scores of well-armed security operatives. Before its destruction, the market, which usually holds every Friday,  was a popular shopping arena for  hotels, aides of top government officials and those who buys in bulk for resale in retail because of the cheap price of commodities, especially foodstuff.

The market was relocated by former President Olusegun Obasanjo in 2003, from Gosa pai pai, a distance of about 500 meters to the location where it was demolished last week. Authorities of FCDA claim that the market was demolished because it was too close to the Airport road, the six-lane expressway that led to the Abuja city from the Nnamdi Azikwe International Airport and the Southern part of the country.

But sellers at the market who are mostly Gbagyi, the indigenous people of Abuja disagree. They showed their disapproval with a massive protest which resulted in gridlock at the Airport road for two days before they were driven off by soldiers. These images by Femi Ipaye depicted the agony and ruins of the market after the exit of FCDA bulldozers.

A trader salvages what remains of his wares after the demolition 

These claypots were demolished with the market

This trader will not allow the agony of the demolition to stop her from praying

A woman moving out her wares after the demolition

A trader picking the wreckage of her shop after the demolition

These baskets used for caging different birds for intended for sale did not escape the bulldozer’s fury

Scavengers ‘doing justice’ to the ruins of the demolished shops

Aerial view of the demolised Gosa market