KWARA MARKET LEADER SUSPENDS WIDOW, MOTHER OF FIVE FROM PORTER DUTIES FOR BACKING SARAKI’S PDP

In Kwara State, a market porter and widow, Mrs Ajara Jimoh, has alleged that she was suspended for two weeks from her duties at Mandate Market in Ilorin after publicly declaring support for the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) ahead of the 2027 governorship election.

Jimoh, a mother of five, told journalists on Thursday that the market’s Iyaloja (market women leader) summoned and humiliated her after a video of her expressing support for the PDP, led by former Governor Bukola Saraki, circulated on social media, ValidViewNetwork reports.

THE OFFENCE

Jimoh had attended a political gathering where she was asked which candidate she supported. She answered truthfully. “I told them I am supporting the PDP team led by Bukola Saraki,” she said, explaining that she had once benefited from Saraki’s late father, Olusola Saraki.

Her answer, she alleged, was the trigger for her ordeal.

THE PUNISHMENT

She alleged that she was confronted with the video, insulted, and threatened with arrest by the NSCDC before being suspended.

“I have five children to cater for and have been working as a market porter for the past seven years to provide for them,” she said, lamenting that the suspension has left her facing further uncertainty.

The suspension means she cannot work, cannot earn, and cannot feed her children. For a widow with no other source of income, it is a death sentence.

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WHY IT MATTERS

This is not just about politics. It is about power and vulnerability.

A widow, a mother of five, was suspended from her livelihood because she expressed a political opinion. She was not violent. She did not break any law. She simply said who she supported.

If this can happen in a market, what else is happening in Kwara? How many other people are being silenced, not by the state, but by their neighbours, their colleagues, their leaders?

The Iyaloja has not responded to the allegations. But for Jimoh, the suspension continues, and the children wait. ValidViewNetwork reports