Some aggrieved protesters from Ilasan- Jakande Housing Esate Lekki Eti-Osa, Lagos State have pleaded with Governor Babajide Sanwo Olu to intervene in the alleged illegal occupation of their land, by land grabbers.
Landlords and residents of the said estate led by Alhaji Abdulhameed Shuiab besieged the Lagos State House of Assembly on Tuesday, demanding an immediate halt of indiscriminate demolition of their properties, in clear discountenance of a standing court injunction.
The placards wielding protesters with various boldly written inscriptions to drive home their message, hinted that the perpetrators are deploying all forms of unwholesome tactics to forcefully evict them from the land and acquire their properties.
“Land Grabber at Work”, “Demolition without adequate compensation is injustice!!!”, “Do not demolish our houses unlawfully”, “No compensation no demolition at Jakande Estate Ilasan”.
The placards also read, “Attorney General we are in court”, “Even with court order they insist on demolition hear our cry”, “Please stop forceful eviction”, “Using trick to acquire our property”, “Save our estate from land grabbers”.
The community however, requests that government intervenes to halt the unlawful demolition attempts, restore peace, safety and security within the community and initiate a proper investigation to determine the persons behind these actions and their motives.
Alhaji Shuaib while fielding questions from newsmen stated that some individuals who claimed to be landlord leaders in the estate, have alleged that government intends to drive them away from the estate.
“We told them that the move to evict us is contrary to the aim of our fore fathers, so we insist not to leave, they then say they want to compensate us.
“We asked how much and they said 6 million we refused knowing what it cost to get a three bedroom flat, allocated to us with documented approval from government, the amount is too small, we cannot accept that.
“Even the one they are bidding for at that time is between 15 million and above. Later they say 7 million, we then insist we are no longer interested in bargaining with them that we need to see representation from government on the eviction matter.
“A meeting was arranged at the Eti Osa local government but we did not see any representation from government, instead they indicated readiness to pay 11million demanding that we submit our original allocation documents before we can get part of the compensation.
“The remaining part will be paid in three months but the demolition continues about 50 buildings March last year.
“We engaged a lawyer who was able to get a court injunction directing them to stop further demolition, this was followed by repeated threats.
“The Lagos State government and the Attorney General joined in the suit refused to appear in court, what we got thereafter was pasting of seven days demolition notice.
“We head to court December 2nd and the injunction was extended till February 4 but they later came recently with bulldozers giving tenants 50,000 naira to pack their loads.
“The Ministry of Physical Planning invited them to appear today but instead they came to the community again to effect more demolitions.”
The community also showed a letter addressed to the Ministry of Physical Planning and Urban Development indicating names of the said individuals perpetrating the act.
