Displaced Otodo-Gbame Residents Seek FG’s Help
Three days after thousands were displaced from Otodo-Gbame, a Lagos waterfront slum community in the Lekki area of the state when their buildings were demolished by the state government, the evictees have made an appeal to the Federal Government to assist them in rebuilding their destroyed homes.
This is just as community leaders, alleging flagrant disobedience of a court order, have threatened to commence contempt proceeding against the Lagos State government over the demolition carried out on Friday.
Co-director of Justice Empowerment Initiatives (JEI), a community-based legal and empowerment organisation, Megan Chapman, told The Guardian yesterday that their lawyers would file the papers today since the demolition took place at the weekend.
According to her, about 4,698 persons were affected by the demolition allegedly carried out by Lagos State task force, police and officials from the Ministry of the Environment without any prior notice. She said Friday’s action was even more shocking as they had just commenced a court-ordered mediation with the state government last week.
One of the displaced residents, Thomas Unga, said: “Members of the community were thrown into dire state following this demolition, not forgetting that something like this happened in November 2016 and at a time when we were trying to resettle after recovering from the last demolition.”
