Over 100 houses were demolished in Mosafejo community in Oshodi, Lagos, yesterday, about three weeks after a similar exercise at Owonifari Market.
Lagos State Task Force officials carried out the exercise after a seven-day quit notice on residents, many of whom were seen lamenting their losses.
The houses mostly face-me-I face-you, had shops attached to them.
Residents and traders claimed that they were prevented from removing their properties after the ultimatum expired.
They alleged that hoodlums looted their properties.
The community was cordoned off and its gate locked after the demolition.
The residents denied the claim that they were harbouring miscreants.
A landlady and shop owner, Alhaja Adeshina, described the government’s action as unfortunate, adding: “We don’t know what is going on. On January 11, some people came to the market claiming to be from Alausa. They pasted quit notices on the walls, and handed them to passers-by, but did not come to my shop. I actually thought they were distributing Land Use documents. Later on, I was told that we were given a seven-day ultimatum to quit the area, and that would be on a Sunday. Two days later, the people returned, with fully armed task force men and proceeded to mark all the buildings around, right from the gate to the end of the wall. Later on, they went in and wrote UPN and all sorts of words, and inscribed 14/1/2016, marked X, and bracketed 2, telling us that we had two days to pack our wares saying, E keru yin o. They warned us not to allow ourselves to be found there in two days. So people started packing their goods, so as to avoid a repeat of what happened at the other side of the road at Owonifari Market.
She continued: “As we packed our things, the task force men did not allow us to take them away, Area boys seized the opportunity to vandalise our properties, and destroy our houses.
“Some of us are landlords’ wives, and have our shops in front of our homes. We (the villagers) were accused of being the cause of all the trouble in Oshodi. Yet everyone knows that it is politicians who use the area boys; they use them during the elections, and rallies, bestowing all sorts of things on them during elections. They are the ones who fund the hoodlums’ Hajj and Jerusalem pilgrimage trips. Who are we to drive them (area boys) away? The government does not make provision for the less privileged. Whenever policemen pursue them, they run through the community, and burst out at the Railway line. Yet they claim that we harbour them. Who are we to drive the hoodlums away? Whenever the government task forces apprehend them, they release them after a while.”
A trader said the hoodlums usually threatened people because nobody can challenge them.
“Now that my goods are gone with the demolition, where do I start from now? Government asked us to rent new shops in the market, what am I going to sell to pay N10,000 monthly shop rents?”
