Lagos residents protest against planned demolition of shops

FILE PHOTO: A market place after demolition

Residents of Oke-Afa Estate, Isolo, Lagos have called on the state House of Assembly to prevail on the state government to stop the planned demolition of shops in the estate.

Some of the residents, who staged a protest to the House on Monday, said that officers of the Lagos Building Investment Company gave them a final notice on Friday, Oct. 28.

According to them, the demolition is slated for Tuesday, Nov. 1.

The protesters said that the development would lead to loss of livelihood for the shop owners, who are predominantly pensioners.

The leader of the protesters, Chief Olawale Osanyinpeju, said that the estate was constructed by former governor Lateef Jakande in the 80s, while the residents built shops on spaces around their houses.

“We cannot allow grass to grow in the spaces, so we decided to build shops in the areas.

“Since then, we have been making use of the place. We cannot leave them and go to the market.

“LBIC initially came to demolish the stalls, but we invited them and we discussed. I am the Chairman of Kiosks and Containers Committee.

“They inspected what we had done and they saw that they were okay.

“They came during the tenure of former governor Raji Fashola and said we would be paying ground rent of N1,000 for containers and N500 for small shops and we complied,” Osanyinpeju said.

The protesters later submitted a letter dated Oct. 31 and signed by B.A Johnson and Toba Johnson, the President and Secretary of the Landlords’ Association of the estate respectively, to the Assembly.

The petition submitted to the House read in part: “The Lagos Building Investment Company (LBIC) is planning in conjunction with Ministry of Environment and other bodies to demolish our shops.

“The government has also demolished our heritage, the Landlord Association Civic Centre, all these may lead to political instability.

“These shops are our means of livelihood since we are mostly pensioners and retirees.

“We obtained permit before erecting the shops and we pay annual dues to LBIC. We equally pay to Local Government (Ejigbo Local Council Development Area)”.

They appealed for intervention of the lawmakers.

Addressing the protesters, the Majority Leader of the Assembly, Mr Sanai Agunbiade said that the House would look into the matter and get back to them in due course.

Agunbiade commended the protesters for their peaceful conduct.

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