Some residents of Agric -Owutu in Ikorodu have resisted the Lagos State Government on its plan to demolish houses marked for demolition in the area.
According to The PUNCH, a video clip on Friday, showed angry youths in the area gathered and prevented the officials of the Ministry of Physical Planning and Urban Development from embarking on the exercise on Thursday.
The state government had planned to begin the removal of houses belonging to the residents due to the road construction along the Agric-Owutu-Isawo-Arepo Road.
In the video, angry members of the community picketed the bulldozer and task force sent by the ministry as one of the state officials could be seen trying to amicably discuss with them.
One of the residents said in video, “You people didn’t hold a meeting or consult anyone in the community, you just came here and said you want to demolish buildings.”
“The authorities will talk to you, they will explain things,” said the official as he appealed to an elderly member of the community who was seated in a wheelchair.
One of the residents responded, saying, “But you are from the authorities and you here, talk to us. You can’t demolish any of our buildings.”
It was gathered that the residents prevented the demolition on the basis of an ongoing case at the Lagos State High Court.
They also claimed that the state government refused to engage them in dialogue over compensation, stating that the state only wanted to acquire and demolish their buildings for public use.
Some landlords in the area, however, expressed fears that the bulldozers might return some other time to carry out the exercise.
Efforts to reach the Commissioner for Physical Planning, Dr Olumide Olayinka, failed as his line rang out and he did not respond to a text message sent to his phone.
Also, the state Commissioner for Information, Mr Gbenga Omotoso, did not respond to a message seeking his comment on the matter as of the time of filing this report.
