It is now about six weeks since the invasion of Magodo Estate by policemen and bailiffs from Abuja on the instructions of the Inspector General of Police, Usman Baba and the Attorney General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami. The national outrage, especially over the demeaning treatment Governor Babajide Sanwoolu received from the leader of the invaders, CSP Abimbola Oyewole, has since, cooled. That is one advantage political leaders hold over the citizenry. They know Nigerians are always moving on. So when they fart and soil everywhere, they just hold their peace for the usual rage on the social media, to pass, before carrying on, as if the disavowal is mere dog-bark.
Well, maybe the noise has achieved some results at certain points, when the social media served as the perfect Ombudsman. During COVID lockdown, the arrest, prosecution and conviction of Funke Akindele and hubby JJCSkillz, was due to the hysteria in the social media over a wrong-themed birthday shindig. Somehow, the couple are still convicts, because their appeal filed by Mr. Femi Falana hasn’t been determined and Lagos Governor hasn’t issued them a pardon. The Constitution limits their citizenship rights, as convicts.
The usual hysteria is majorly effective against lesser mortals but not ogas at the top like Malami, Baba or even their principal, General Muhammadu Buhari. Rooftop noise of recent years, hasn’t stopped the frightening borrowing from China. The President doesn’t like losing against public opinion. That mentality runs through the gamut of his administration. The supposed people’s victory in the EndSARS’ struggle, was wiped off at the critical stage of implementation of “change”. Truth is, just like the Labour movement and the human rights community, Nigerians seeking the good of the land, will have to add to the social media bedlam approach, to stop the rapacity, ravaging the land.
Before the encounter between CSP Oyewole and Governor Sanwoolu, the land-seekers from Shangisha, were the underdog in the reclaiming effort. But the tide turned after the infamous encounter at Magodo Police Station. Even those who were in favour of full obedience to court order and supporting the execution of the 2012 judgement directing the return of the land to the original dwellers, began querying the extraordinary interest of Baba and Malami in Lagos land, in which the Governor has the final say. The question was also raised about the sudden interest of Malami in obedience to court order, when he has encouraged the administration he serves to disobey and discountenance dozens of orders made by superior courts of records, especially when such orders are against the central government.
The Sanwoolu/CSP encounter turned the table against the land seekers and Magodo residents or more like Magodo Residents Association, the supposed umbrella body for all residents, which has been representing the interest of the estate in the decades-long reclaim battle, became an overnight underdog. That change in public perception, obviously forced the hand of the land seekers, led by Chief Adeyiga, to do peace deal with government again, because those helping them from Abuja, wasted their public goodwill through arrogance of power. That in itself is a lesson for all. Help is good and all men need one form of it, or the other, at different times. But be careful in seeking help and from whom. It is good to have men of power on your side, but don’t go overboard because you have them. The land seekers from Shangisha threw their omoluabi (civility) away in enforcing the judgement, though I acknowledge their frustration, mainly because they also sucked into the impression that with Abuja behind you, you have suddenly been transformed into a god, with licence, to misbehave. The Shangisha men have learnt the civility lesson in a hard way. The peace offering they had considered condescending in the past, is what is now on the table. The reality is that land matter is exclusive preserve of state governments. If the landlords had insisted on Magodo Estate Phase 2 which used to be known as Monkey Village when they were dwellers therein, the governor can re-allot to them and within seconds of so doing, withdraw the allocation, if he wants to play the Abuja game.
Yes, MRA has won the war against the invaders, but it should win the peace within. Without the residents coming out in their numbers to support the leadership of Mr. Bajo Osinubi, the story would have been different. So, the victory is people’s victory. Am I insinuating that the residents aren’t originally with the chairman and his exco? No, it isn’t an insinuation. There is a deliberate construct of the estate’s DNA as being-for-this, and not-for-that. Despite the invasion affecting practically all the buildings in the estate, Osinubi and co, still needed a lockdown to keep residents in and of course, force them, to defend their properties. That doesn’t sound like a pro-people arrangement. It should have been tumultuous, especially when the news spread that a bulldozer was waiting in the wings to start rolling over marked buildings. Osinubi himself openly confessed that a distress call for residents to line their cars as an extra blockade at the gate, was substantially ignored and the leadership, had to settle for a truck, from elsewhere.
The arrogance of this-estate-isn’t-for-everybody, patently on display from the connecting gates, is too strong to miss in the security men and women employed by the estate leadership. Of course, you key into the orientation you meet on ground. It is what is blown into the flute that it brings out. Only God knows those who began the culture of making the estate pocket-drilling for it to be seen as exquisite. You can be affordable and still be high-octane.
Magodo needs a new orientation. When outsiders say “you Magodo people”, the unhidden negativity is too glaring. Those crazy levies would have to go. No, I’m not saying it should be an all-comers, but being deliberately expensive to look great, is foolishness and wickedness. Chairman Osinubi complained about countless residents not joining the estate WhatsApp platform. How can they when they can see what has been ongoing. The invasion is an opportunity to do things differently, to gain the confidence of most residents. That is if those running the show and their backers believe anything is off.
I know all these because the corpse of ten years isn’t a stranger to the grave.
and then