The prayer of coffin sellers is for more people to die so they can make more sales. This has however boomeranged as three pronged attack from a community Baale, Ikorodu General hospital and Ikorodu legislators will soon flush out all marketers of caskets and coffins who flagrantly display these symbols of death along TOS Benson road. This is because they are causing fear and psychological traumas on patient visiting the general hospital, and constituting a nuisance value to the environment.
A petition by the Baale of Ojogbe, complaint by medical authorities at the general hospital and intra feud among the casket builders/sellers recently, necessitated a legislation by Ikorodu local government to send packing all those displaying, building and selling coffins along old Beach road.
The Ikorodu local council legislative arm recently passed a resolution asking the council environment department to dislodge the coffin sellers along Otunba Theophilus O. S. Benson Avenue, especially those that had encroached on government land and are displaying their caskets outside,
The Baale Ojogbe, Chief Bayo Olomo had petitioned the Ikorodu legislative arm complaining about the coffin sellers constituting nuisance and disturbing public peace. The medical director of Ikorodu General Hospital, Dr. Olukoya had also made similar complaints to the legislators during a visitation to the hospital few months back.
Dr. Olukoya had complained at the meeting with the legislators that the unrestricted display of coffins can result into psychological problem for sick patients going to or coming from the hospital. The medical officer therefore enjoined the council to see to the correction of the situation.
In a chat with Ikorodu News, Chief Olomo complained that he had met with the casket sellers several times on the need to stop constituting public nuisance by the unrestricted display of their coffins and the habit of doing the furnituring work in the open, but all fell into deaf ears. The Baale also accused them of fetish activities.
According to the community leader, "Recently, their unbearing attitudes got to a level when they used juju against each other. One of them called Lolo stepped on juju laid on the ground and developed swollen leg which later resulted into peeling of the flesh on his leg to the extent that his bone was revealing.
After consultations, I learnt the attack came from his co-sellers and I confronted them. To my surprise, they made revelations that there had been such occurrences among them and I threatened to report them to Kabiyesi and other traditional institutions if the guy was not back on his feet in four weeks", said Baale Olomo.
"You will be surprised that the man is back on his feet, after the suspect promised to take the victim to somewhere he can be cured," Olomo confirmed.
Chief Olomo also revealed that recently, misunderstanding over a small portion of government land between two of their members-Daisi and Korede, degenerated into public disturbances and Daisi ended up shattering the windscreen of a vehicle parked at a nearby mechanic workshop. Daisi has since refused to replace the windscreen.
Ikorodu News also learnt from some members of the carpentary association in Ikorodu that most of the coffin sellers refused to belong to the association and whenever association officials are there to enforce the union's rule, they (the coffin sellers) turn violent.
The coffin sellers' attitude, we learnt, has become unbearable for their leader too, Mr. Goke Oretoye, who had already complied with the public outcry by operating his casket business in a covered shop.
When Ikorodu News approached the coffin sellers with the Baale of Ojogbe, Chief Bayo Olomo, they did not deny any of the allegations made by the Baale.
Meanwhile, the Ikorodu Legislative arm, led by Hon. Aziz Olosugbo, after considering the petitions and views of other stakeholders in the community, has passed a resolution directing the council's environment department to dislodge the coffin sellers and if they cannot, to invite the state ministry of environment to carry out the dislodgement.
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