Lagosians Condemn Government Incessant War Against Artisans, Traders
….Journalists come under heavy attack by armed land grabbers
By Investigation Media Team of Oluwasegun Abifarin and Olawale Abideen
“I don’t like Mechanics; they are very dirty.” These were the words of one Dr. Afolabi, then a Deputy Director in the Lagos State Ministry of the Environment in the frenzy build-up to the demolition of the Babs Animashaun Mechanic Village in 2017. The mechanics were given a 7 day quit notice on the 19th October, 2017, only for the bulldozers and tough looking soldiers in tow, to invade the village less than 24 hours after the notice.
According to Akinwale Taofeek, General Secretary (Babs Animashaun) of the Nigerian Automobile Technicians Association (NATA), the series of letters/petitions, meetings and even protests did not yield any result. Today Bab Animashaun Village has yielded space for greedy land grabbers who have erected houses, hotels, gas station in the village located under a high tension electric wire.
After the fall of Babs Animashaun, the bulldozers have since moved on: This time, the violent eviction, willful destruction and confiscation of property mainly motor vehicles at different stages of repair, illegal arrests and detention of mechanics took place at Odo Aladura Mechanic Village along the Powerline Corridor/Canal set-back at N0. 1, Jimade Close, Odo-Aladura, off Ladipo Road, Mushin, Lagos State, covering an area of 5193.886 square meters.
This site is one of forty mechanic villages created along power lines and canal set – backs as a way of organizing auto repair workers in sustainable work clusters while decongesting the city of the scattered presence of auto workers.
According to Jacob Omonide Fayeun, Chairman of NATA, the allocation, control and management of all the Lagos State Government approved Mechanic Villages, including the Odo-Aladura Mechanic Village, Mushin are vested/domiciled in and entirely placed under the Lagos State Ministry of Transportation.
He added that the said land / Mechanic Village above referred to was permanently allocated to some of members of NATA through the Ministry of Transportation and sometimes on the 16th December, 1993, upon fulfillment of all the Lagos State Government’s conditions and requirements.
Fayeun disclosed that strange developments however started emerging sometimes in the month of March, 2018, when some unknown persons claiming to be the officials/management team of the Lagos State development and property Corporation (LSDPC), paid an unscheduled visit to Odo-Aladura claiming to be on an alleged inspection tour of its (LSDPC) property, on alleged reason that the premises being occupied by our members falls under its management and control.
“Our members, through their solicitors, immediately caused a letter dated the 14th April, 2018, to be issued to the Ministry of Transportation seeking its clarification and intervention on the development but the said letter never elicited any response
“However, to our members’ utmost surprise, it received a letter dated July 17th, 2018. From the law Firm of Justice Jude. C. Wilfred & Associates demanding that they vacate its Odo-Aladura premises within Seven (7) days, on ground that the premises have been allocated to its client, Shola Idowu Estate Developer & Company, since November 24, 2017, by the Lagos State Development and Property Corporation (LSDPC).
“In response to the above mentioned letter, our members again caused its solicitors to write to the Managing Director of Lagos State Development and Property Corporation both on the 19th July, 2018 and 14th August, 2018, seeking to clarify the veracity or otherwise of the content/claims contained in the above mentioned Solicitors letter dated July 17th 2018, but the said letters elicited no response from LSDPC,” Fayeun said.
On the 5th and 19th December, 2019, the mechanics were invited for a meeting by the Special Adviser (Transport) to the Honourable Commissioner for Transportation, to discuss the issue of regularization of LSDPC’s Land at Matori Industrial Scheme, Mushin, Lagos, which they claimed allegedly included their premises.
Further to the said meeting, the office of the Special Adviser (Transport), by its letter Ref. No. MIT/AG.1616/Vol. II/2017dated the 19th December 2019 wrote to offer, on behalf of LSDPC, the sum of N10, 000, 000.00 (ten Million Naira Only) as compensation to enable them vacate the premises within Fourteen (14) days upon receipt of the said sum.
Fayeun said the offer was rejected because the various alternative premises shown to them were not only inhabitable, there are also serious contention on them by land speculators. “As a matter of fact, on one occasion, our members and officials of Ministry of Transport that went to visit these sites were pelted with stones,” he said.
The resultant stalemate subsequently resorted to locking up the entire business premises of the members, thus denying them access, preventing them from earning their livelihood culminating in the forceful and illegal eviction from their permanent site/workshop on the 7th day of July 2020 by men of the Lagos State Ministry of Transport and the Nigerian Police Force led by one Mr. Lawal at around 3 am.
Even after the invasion, Fayeun said “our members were subjected to all manners of harassment and inhuman treatment as they were arrested and detained for days by the men and officers of the Nigerian Police at Zone 2 Headquarters, Onikan, Lagos. In addition, they were arraigned on trumped up charges at the Igbosere Magistrate Court, Lagos and were made to spend about two (2) weeks at the Ikoyi Prison before they were granted court bail.”
Meanwhile, after the press conference addressed by NATA, an affiliate of the Federation of Informal Workers’ Organizations of Nigeria (FIWON) over the illegal eviction at Odo Aladura in Lagos on Friday, some journalists decided to go to the demolished Mechanic Village to see things for themselves
All hell broke loose as the armed, drug crazed goons placed there by land grabbers with police protection and Ministry of Transport officials’ protection swooped on the Channels TV crew. They damaged a TV camera and wounded the Channels cameraman.
Market and work place demolition and redevelopment in Lagos have followed a clearly discernible pattern in the last one and a half decades of democratic governance.
Some of the more notorious cases of demolished markets include: ! Tejuosho market demolition after fire incidents in 2004 and 2007; Jankara market demolition in December 2012, after a fire incident that gutted some buildings around the market.
Mushin Ajina market, demolished in September 2012; Sandgrouse Market demolition on 3 February 2015; Owonifari, Oshodi market demolition on 6 January 2016; Daleko market demolished 28 February 2016; Alade market, Allen Avenue, Ikeja, demolished in July 2016. Markets under threat of demolition include Olorunshogo Ultra-Modern Market, Mosafejo, Oshodi, Pelewura, and Ebute markets on the Lagos Island.
“The issue is how long is this trend going to continue? Over 40 mechanic villages, markets and sawmills have been demolished over the past 20 years of our ‘democracy’ with hundreds of thousands informal workers violently thrown away without any form of alternatives, several are dead while many are suffering different debilitating ailments because of the loss and the shock…
“For how long would corrupt civil servants continue to collude with land speculators to deprive people of their legitimate livelihoods?” asked Gbenga Komolafe, General Secretary of FIWON.
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