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Another round of demolition was carried out in Precious Seed area of Oworosonki, Lagos, on Thursday when bulldozer from Lagos State government rammed into buildings, pulling them down. The residents disclosed that there were over 3000 residents within the community and no less than 260 structures of various sizes.

Many of the residents claimed they were not informed and that their buildings were not marked for demolition.

They alleged that it was only Wednesday evening that some people came into the community to inform them that the state government is coming to demolish the buildings around the area and that they should start moving their belongings if they do not want it crushed too.

A widow, Mrs. Omolayo Oluwabunmi, who said she lost her husband about four months ago, said the building would be pulled down on her as she would not vacate the building because it was all she had since her husband died.

Oluwabunmi, who was visibly shaking as she speaks, said: “We have tried to be lawful, especially in complying with getting all the necessary papers for this building.” She added that any document that is not presently with her, she has started the process of getting it, saying she and her late husband have been paying yearly land-use charge on the building for more than a decade. “I cannot stand it that the building will be demolished. So, I will stay here till the building is pulled down on me.”

It was gathered that some of those that were evicted at Precious Seed on Thursday were once residents of Otodo Gbame in Eti-Osa Local Council. They relocated to the community after their eviction from Otodo-gbame in 2017, after the state government evicted some residents of waterfront community in Otodo-gbame. It was even learnt that some of them moved to Mosafejo Oworo after they were evicted from Otodo-gbame but were evicted again from Mosafejo Oworo in 2023. They thereafter found their way to Precious Seed community in 2023 but were on Thursday evicted from Precious Seed, Oworo as buildings in the community were pulled down with heavily armed policemen and thugs supervising the operation.

A cleric, Kuton Batholomew said he has been in the area for about 45 years and when he bought his land, it was from the Omo-onile. He said when the demolition started in other communities, he went to meet the person who sold the land to him who is one of the chiefs and brother of the monarch of Oworonsoki, who told him that they do not have a say over it. Batholomew, however, insisted that he does not believe the claim by the omo-onile.

“During the last election, we were told if we voted for All Progressive Congress (APC), our buildings will not be demolished and we voted massively for APC but now all of us have been rendered homeless with the demolition of our buildings,” he said.

Christiana Adesanya, a Senior Secondary School 1 student of Muslims Senior College, Oworo, left school around 10 am to pick some of her parent belongings when she learnt that their building has been demolished. She claimed she was not aware that buildings in the area would be demolished and her mother was not at home.

Adesanya returned to the community with some of her classmates when she ought to be in class learning. According to her, there is no way she would return to school on Friday.

When the Director, Public Affairs, Lagos State Building Control Agency (LASBCA) Olumuyiwa Adu was contacted, he insisted that all the owners of the affected buildings were served the notices including engaging the representatives of the landlords. He added that the state government has been very magnanimous as it has been paying and continues to pay compensation to the affected evictees despite many of them do not have any title documents.