It is indeed a moment of pain, anguish and anxiety for shop owners at new Markurdi road, Obollo-Afor, Udenu local government area of Enugu state following the demolition of the property over the dualization of the road by the Federal government.
The demolition which started October 28, 2025, has seen a lot of shops, filling stations, hotels and other business premises pulled down.
Our reporter gathered that the demolition of shops and other along the road has literally thrown many shop owners out of business as they watch helplessly as their source being pulled down.
When WITHIN NIGERIA reporter visited the scene, many shop owners were seen weeping uncontrollably and helplessly over the demolition.
Some of them who speak to our reporter narrated that they were not given enough time to find another place before the demolition.
Chijioke Ugwoke is a cellphone repairer and phone accessories seller. He told our reporter that “ I am finished, I am totally finished. I repaired and sold phones and accessories here. With this demolition, my business has ended.”
Narrating further, Mr.Ugwuoke who is father of three explained that “For now, I have not been able to get another shop, and this is really telling on my family finance. I charged phones in that shop, and I know how much I made in that shop. But now, I am doing nothing. My family is now finding it difficult to take some responsibilities. What makes my own even worse is that I just renewed my tenancy of that shop few days before the demolition.”
Another shop owner, John Okagu who deals on beer and soft drinks told WITHIN NIGERIA that “I cannot say that we didn’t know that the demolition would come. But we didn’t know when it would be. We thought it would be sometime next two years. We didn’t know it would be so soon.”
Explaining further, Mr. Okagu said that “since the demolition last week, my business has crumbled. Right now, I don’t have any shop. In fact, this has affected my business negatively because I have lost my customers to other sellers.”
Again, a security man who pleaded anonymity told our reporter that he was affected deeply as the shop where he served as a security man has been demolished.
“My family came back from Adani, Uzo-Uwani local government due to rising cases of insecurity in the area. I was lucky to be employed as a security man here in this shop. I have worked here for almost a year now. Now that the shop has been demolished, I have been thrown out of employment. I cried unstoppably when I saw a bulldozer pull down the shop where I worked as a security man. How do I feed my family? What will I tell my children? I am totally devastated.”
WITHIN NIGERIA source revealed that more than 300 shops were pulled down. Almost all the filling stations and hotels along the road were affected one way or the other. All of them had their barricades or fences removed.
Some had their gas pump spots removed. But the most affected ones are shop owners. Many people have been rendered jobless. Most have relocated.
A source who spoke under anonymity revealed that though these shop owners were duly informed, they though it would never come to pass. It was gathered that the Federal Government sent their representatives to tell the affected owners to leave. They came many times to mark the affected shops and also remind the owners about the impending demolition.
However, nobody took them seriously. Some believed that owners of big businesses, like Peace Mass Transit and hotels, would bribe the contractors to skip Obollo. When the bulldozers came, they didn’t spare both the rich and the poor.
Rt. Hon. Dr. Nnamdi Odo is the councilor representing Obollo-Afor ward in Udenu legislative council. In chat with our reporter, he stated that “it is understandable that it has affected lots of businesses especially given the fact that is a commercial zone. So, a lot of my people have been affected. A lot of my people are crying because businesses have been shut down. These are small businesses. A lot of families depended on it.
“But I must express happiness and joy with the dualization of that Federal road. It is just that our people do not run until the rain drenched them, because it is on record that that road has been awared over three decades ago. The dualization has been marked over three decades ago. Equally I am aware that evacuation notice has been given to business owners, but they didn’t take them seriously until they came.
“So, I commiserate with those who are affected but on the other hand, I must commend Federal government for finally going through with this dualization.
On the benefits of the dualization, Rt.Dr. Odo said “this dualization will ease businesses. It will bring more development. It will also bring about more business opportunities for our people.
“Already because of bad nature of that road, a lot of travelers from Abuja, Lokoja, Markurdi and other northern parts of the countries are no longer plying the Obollo-Afor axis. They are now using some other routes that are better. So, with dualization of that road, we are sure that business activities will increase in Oboll-Afor area.”