Ahead of May 29th inauguration, aggrieved residents of Operiele Street at Lagoon View Estate, Ibeshe, Ikorodu area of Lagos, whose structures were demolished way back in 2017 have cried out to the incoming governor, Mr Babajide Olusola Sanwo-Olu, to redress the wrong done to them by reinstating to them their land as well as grant full compensation for those structures.
The affected residents namely Mr Victor Armstrong, Mrs Adejoke Adesanya and Mr Wilson Ukereghe made the plea on Monday on behalf of others, in a petition, copy of which was made available to newsmen, saying the need to call on the governor- elect to come to their rescue became imperative, following failure of all approaches to get the matter addressed up till now.
“Finally, we call on the Man of the People, our Governor-Elect, Mr. Babajide Sanwo-Olu, to come to our aid immediately he assumes office, and call the affected ministry to order, and use his good offices to redress the wrong done to us by reinstating us to our land and grant us full compensation for our structures that were wrongfully demolished by some unscrupulous individuals who chose to use apparatus of the state,” they said.
According to the aggrieved residents, houses numbering about 17 were on that fateful day on 16th of August 2017 demolished by agents of the state government, who came around with about 36 fully armed policemen, at the early morning period when several occupants had left for their various places of work.
They said the demolition exercise, which was also effected with three excavators, was carried out with any prior notice.
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“A total of 17 buildings were demolished, including the ones occupied by an 87-year-old woman, a 15 day old baby and the nursing mother respectively,” they recalled.
“As a people, we feel that the motive behind this inhumane and barbaric act was to devastate, disorient and disorganize the residents and occupants of the land by invading and demolishing their properties using the element of surprise, so that whilst homeless, confused and struggling to recover from the shock, they would quickly take possession of the land.
“Having lost all we worked for in our entire lives in just two hours of terror, we were forcefully displaced and most of us with little children were displaced, rendered homeless and forced to sleep under makeshift tents made from salvaged materials from our demolished structures at the mercy of the elements of nature, some of the residents were admitted in hospital and some have developed life threatening illnesses,” they lamented.
This was just as they recalled that their cries for justice over time through several petitions to the authorities, including peaceful protest to the Lagos State House of Assembly had fallen on deaf ears.
“After the demolitions, we sent a petition to the Commissioner of Police in August 2017, requesting for a criminal inquiry into the matter but received no favorable response; we also turned to the Lagos State House of Assembly through another petition for succor. The petition was addressed to the Rt. Honourable Speaker and copied to (i) the House Committee Chairperson on Judiciary (Hon. Funmilayo Tejuoso), (ii) the House Committee Chairperson on Physical Planning and Urban Development (Hon. Setonji David) and (iii) our Constituency Representative Hon. N Solaja requesting their intervention under their oversight function. Sadly, there has been no response from them till date,” the residents said.
They, however, warned that they were poised to go to any length to ensure that the injustice meted on them were reversed or remedied, declaring that Nigeria is a Free and egalitarian society and, therefore, cannot be returned to the stone-age where might is right.
“We wish to make it clear to those involved in this colossal and wanton damage to private property contrary to the constitution of the country that we are poised to go to any length to ensure that the injustice done and the injustice meted on us reversed or remedied.
“We boldly say that Nigeria is a Free and egalitarian society and therefore, our country cannot be returned to the stone-age where ‘might is right.'”
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