LAGOS 鈥 Two civil society organisations, the Take It Back Movement (TIB) and Coalition of Victims of Oworonshoki Illegal Demolition, have lamented the nonchalant attitude, total negligence and continuous threat of about 10,000 people at the Oworonshoki area of Lagos who were victims of forced eviction by the Lagos State Government.
A joint statement by the organisations made available to Sunday Independent said the victims, are the poor people of Oke-Eri, Odun鈥檉a, Lone Street, Ogo-Oluwa, Precious Seed and Coker environs of Oworonshoki area of the state.
The statement signed by Opeyemi Ogunlami, for Take It Back Movement (TIB) and Olaleye Bashiru, for Coalition of Victims of Oworonshoki Illegal Demolition, recalled that it would be almost two years that the Lagos State Police Task Force under the directives of the Lagos State Ministry of Environment invaded the Mosafejo and Precious Seed Communities of Oworonshoki with bulldozers and armed police officers.
It also recalled that the officials burnt and demolished houses without allowing people to take their properties, stressing that about 1000 homes were either burnt or knocked down by bulldozers, thereby rendering over 10,000 residents homeless.
The groups maintained that since that unfortunate event, 22 deaths, including children, women and men, had died as a result of the aftermath of the demolition.
It stressed that the cause of these deaths included and not limited to shock, hypertension and other related diseases as a result of the demolition, adding that till date, thousands of victims had remained homeless and their means of livelihood ruined.
The groups informed that the figure included hundreds of children whose education had been disrupted due to the forceful demolition.
According to the statement, the main aim of the forceful eviction by the Lagos State government was to grab land from the poor and redistribute to the rich and powerful through private developers.
They stated: 鈥淲e are also using this medium to draw the attention of the Lagos State governor, Mr Babajide Sanwo-Olu, to the continuous threat of further demolition by both state and non state actors.
鈥淚t is so sad and pathetic that up to date, the Lagos State governor, Mr Babajide Sanwo-Olu, has turned a deaf ear to the plight of the victims.
鈥淚nstead of awarding compensations, including resettlement of the thousands that have been unjustly displaced, made homeless and without property, Lagos State continues to issue threats under different guises to evict more people from the community.
鈥淲e need to reiterate that the right to shelter is a fundamental human right that is guaranteed under the Nigerian Constitution and the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights.鈥
The groups called on Governor Sanwo-Olu to immediately award compensations, including resettlement of the thousands that had been unjustly displaced, made homeless and without property, pay a visit to the families of the 22 persons that had lost their lives as a result of the demolition and also prosecute those responsible for this ruinous act.
They added: 鈥淲e also insist that the families of the deceased must be adequately compensated.
鈥淭he victims of this barbaric act are not relenting in the struggle to get their homes back and would continue to voice their agitation through all possible democratic means.
鈥淲e refuse to be the lamb that is sacrificed on the altar of the insatiable greed of an elite minority.鈥