By Dotun Akintomide.
Allegations have begin to trail the demolition of 350 illegal structures built on power tension cable’s right of way spanning close to 15 hectares of land at the Oba Wahab modern market in Isheri Olofin, Egbe-Idimu Local Council Development Area by the Lagos State government as traders and residents have come out to accuse officials of Egbe-Idimu LCDA of aiding the illegal activities of the Omo Oniles in the area which has contributed to the decision to demolish the market.
The demolition which took place last week was jointly carried out by the Lagos State Building Control Agency (LASBCA), Lagos State Task Force, Monitoring and Enforcement Team as well as Lagos Ministry of Physical and Urban Planning.
Nigerian NewsDirect which visited the demolition site, learnt from traders and authority in the area that the land has continued to generate chaos since a group of people lay claim to the land in April this year after the land has been under the control of the Lagos State government for close to 30 years. It was alleged that this was spear-headed by one Idris Wahab who they said happens to be the prince of Isheri in collusion with some officials of the Egbe-Idimu L.C.D.A who have vested interest in allocating portions of the land to traders, artisans and business people at the market against the wish of shop-owners who were forcefully evicted by a gang of land grabbers who usually parade themselves as Omo Oniles from time to time.
One of the traders who will not like his name to be mentioned in print due to the alleged threat to his life, family and other leaders of the traders’ association said the brutal activities of the land grabbers in the area were being supported by the immediate past chairman as well as the current chairman of the L.C.D.A
His words: “Those who claim to be Omo Oniles have become a law unto themselves by the numerous harassments and forceful evictions meted-out on occupants which has resulted into lost of lives on a number of occasions.”
“What you are seeing here today is as a result of the direct repercussion of the dilly-dallying stance of the immediate past and current officials of Egbe-Idimu L.C.D.A who have jointly allocated the land to a developer colluding with the land grabbers syndicate in the process to illegally build more shops in the market.”
The anonymous source who claimed to have been in the market for the past 30 years stressed the need for government to wade into the matter by setting up a panel of enquiry consisting of members of the Mechanic Village Isokan Phase 1 who over the years have become the victims of the injustice carried out in the area. He believes this will expose those who have benefitted from the grievous illegality perpetrated in the area.
Meanwhile, some of the affected shop-owners complained that they were not adequately notified of the demolition plans and it came as a shock to them which made some of them lose their goods in the process, albeit the Chairman of the Lagos State Taskforce, Olayinka Egbeyemi who led a team of police men to the site said residents and traders were adequately informed of the demolition and due notices were served on them to enable them evacuate their goods and properties.
While lamenting his losses, one of the disgruntled traders who simply identified himself as Michael said: “I wasn’t around when the demolition started, it was a friend that called me and before I could get here my kiosk has been crushed with goods worth of N300,000. Now I will have to start from the ground zero.”
A female trader named Okoro-Afor Favour put the blame on the Zone 2 Police Officers whom she believed didn’t do enough to curb the excesses of the Omo Oniles gang with the alleged backing of the L.C.D.A officials. “Whenever there is a face-off between the traders here and the land grabbers, you will notice some police men in this area looking the other way which further gives them the confidence to carry-on with their terror.” She alleged.
However, Ademola Adebayo, a resident said government has always been warning people through radio jingles that buildings should be 30 meters away from power line cables and infrastructure for safety reasons, but people have always ignored such warnings. “I believe with this demolition, this area will know peace and I’m happy because it will put an end to several criminal activities common in this area over ownership tussle.” He said.
NewsDirect gathered from traders and residents that the properties and goods destroyed could be estimated up to the tune of over N1bn.
- AMBODE...U BETTER COMPENSATE DEM WELL IF U DONT WANT TO CARRY THE STIGMA.
- EVEN LAGOS STATE IS GUILTY OF LAND GRABBING.
- THE SAME THING WES DONE AT THE IKEJA ALADE MARKET.....DIS IS VERY UNFAIR OOOOO!!!
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