Thousands of people that have been forcefully evicted in 2017 from Otodo Gbame, a waterfront group on the sting of the Lagoon in Lekki space of Lagos, on Tuesday gathered to lament their destiny.
Thousands of residents who're victims of the pressured ejection, which spanned November 2016 to April 2017, converged on Ebute Metta to sentence the Lagos State Governor, Akinwunmi Ambode, for chasing the poor out of their properties with a purpose to construct a mega metropolis for the wealthy.
They additionally stated they'd not given up on the place they used to know as their residence; subsequently, they requested the Lagos State authorities to obey a court docket judgment of their favour.
Mr Ogundele Ibrahimoh Agbede, a resident of Otodo-Gbame, advised Famzn News that he lived within the waterfront group for over 30 years earlier than he was evicted.
He maintained that individuals had occupied the waterfront group even earlier than Nigeria gained independence, including that Ambode acted with out respect for human rights.
"Lagos State want to develop everywhere; we don’t object to it but we should be taken extra care of," he stated. "This current authorities got here within the evening to forcefully evict individuals, resulting in the demise of 15 individuals; some have been lacking whereas many have been injured.”
Sani Muhammed, a coverage and advocacy coordinator with Nigeria Slums and Informal Settlement, famous that eviction with out session and compensation, as was inflicted on the individuals of Otodo-Gbame, quantities to cruelty and degrading remedy.
He stated the state authorities ought to construct an inclusive mega metropolis consisting of each the wealthy and the poor.
“If Lagos wants to build a megacity, human components must not be lost and it must be inclusive," he said. "It should not be a situation where you keep evicting the poor for the rich.”
The evicted Otodo-Gbame residents urged Ambode to obey the court docket judgment compelling the state to relocate them.
Justice Adeniyi Onigbanjo of the Lagos State High Court had declared the eviction unconstitutional, subequently asking the state to relocate the residents to a different place or return them to their authentic properties.
A resident of the group, Murtala Gani Taiwo famous that ever because the state authorities appealed the judgement, it had been deploying delay ways to stop justice.
“Since the ruling of Justice Onigbanjo of Igbosere High Court, the state governor went for appeal and we have not heard anything. The appeal by the state government seems as a way of delaying judgment,” Taiwo stated.
He asserted that the individuals of Otodo Gbame wouldn't cease demanding for justice, as “Lagos is meant to be a land of justice and equity and not a land for the rich only”.
Taiwo Emmanuel of Oko-Agbon waterfront group acknowledged that Lagos ought to be a place pushed by inclusiveness.
He also said that individuals are craving for a society that's pushed by the precept of equality, and enjoined Ambode to treatment the lack of lives and property incurred by the individuals within the strategy of the eviction.