Residents protest alleged govt’s demolition of 50 houses in Ibeju-Lekki

They have no claim to that land, says Lagos Govt
Residents of Oluwa community in Ibeju-Lekki have protested the marking of their houses by Lagos State Ministry of Physical Planning and Urban Development and the demolition of their houses by Lagos State Environmental Task Force and Special Offences unit (Task Force).

The residents who claimed to have court judgment over the 358 hectares of land, said they were in shock when some policemen and Task Force officers, including street urchins, stormed the scene with four excavators to destroy over 50 uncompleted buildings in the community.

The placard-carrying protesters, who took the street on Monday, urged concerned citizens of the state to intervene in the matter, noting  that life  has become unbearable for them after the demolition.

Narrating the ugly incident, a counsel to the Oluwa family, Ademola Olowoyeye, expressed worried that the state government carried out the dastardly act, despite a warranty of possession issued to the family under Justice Ronke Harrison,  who made the judgment at the Lagos State High Court on February 15, 2018.

He said they had secured the warranty  since November 30, 2018.

The counsel also alleged that the state government through the Permanent Secretary, Lagos State Lands Bureau, Bode Agoro, had taken steps to block the order by barring the family from securing application for building permit from the ministry of physical planning.

He further alleged that before they came for demolition last Thursday, Agoro had tried to subdue the court judgment by offering them 60 hectares of land out of the 358 hectares.

According to him, “Because we want peace, we were also ready to compromise that judgment,  but we will be taking 200 hectares and not 60. And we held this discussion last year November.”

Olowoyeye, who described the incident as heinous and uncalled for, asked that those who perpetrated the act should be brought to book.

“We are not here to cause chaos. What we want is for the law to prevail. We are going to insist on every inch of our land coming back to us because the judgement of the court is in our favour,” he said.

Speaking on the incident, the Baale of the community, Olawale Oluwa, lamented the rate of destruction, which he said amounted to billions of naira.

He added that beyond the demolition, the thugs who helped the security forces to chase the residents away also looted shops and stole goods worth millions of naira.

One of the eyewitnesses, Makanjuola Kolawole, said despite all their pleas, insisting that they have court backing on the land, the Task Force chased away all the residents out of the community.

He explained that people who came for the demolition told him that only the governor of Lagos State, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, could ask them to stop.

Contacted, the Executive Secretary, Lagos State Lands Bureau, Lolade Ajetunmobi, said: “ Lagos State Government has done the needful since the court said that they were not properly served.”

She, however, dismissed reports that the family has documents backing them as owners of the land.

“Let them bring out the documents that showed that they own the land,” she said.

Also, the Lagos State Commissioner for Information, Gbenga Omotosho said the land belongs to the Lagos State government, explaining that those people who occupied the land don’t have building permits to claim ownership.

He explained that the government, since 10 years ago, had allocated the land under a scheme ‘Abijo GRA Scheme’ to some people,  who now have the Certificate of Occupancy and permit to build on the land.

“Before you build a house in Lagos, you must get a permit from the Ministry of Physical Planning, especially when houses are collapsing. It is because they don’t have building permit, that is why they went there to demolish the buildings,” he added.