LAGOS MAY 16TH (URHOBOTODAY)-An era of shortage of shelter when government suppose to build houses for its citizens, Lagos and Ogun State government may be making things worse for their people as residents of Akute and Ake-Aro communities located both in Lagos and Ogun State are threaten with demolition of their houses within seven days.
Consequently, elders and leaders of both communities mentioned above have sent a Save-Our-Souls (SOS) appeal to the Ogun and Lagos State governments over a seven-day demolition ultimatum issued to landlords and occupants of the 60,000 houses which include mosques, churches and public schools..
URHOBOTODAY an online medium learnt that the shock from the sudden notice by the Ogun State Urban and Regional Planning Board has already claimed the lives of two landlords while several others have taken ill.
Furthermore, the plight of the citizens, some of whom have been residing in the area for over two decades were the subject of a press conference held on Thursday in Akute. The press conference was addressed by leaders of the joint Community Development Councils (CDCs), who identified themselves as dual citizens of Lagos and Ogun states, controlled by All Progressives Congress (APC), which they claimed to have overwhelmingly voted for in the last general elections.
As law-abiding citizens, the community leaders and elders said they were not against the Adiyan Water Project by the Lagos and Ogun State governments which is designed to benefit the public.
According to a grand patron of the CDCs, Alhaji Ganiyu Busari, they want the Ogun State government agency to re-consider the measure of the specified area to be demolished: rather than the expansive 50-metre “set-back” which could conveniently be reduced to 20 metres “set-back,” so that less houses would be affected.
Hear him, “We wish to intimate the government that most of the affected house owners are aged and retirees who have no steady means of livelihood. Pulling down their homes will further aggravate their predicament. We also wish to call the attention of the government to the fact that any meaningful project should be people-driven.”
They added that accepting the 20 metres set-back ensures effective synergy of the government water project as houses marked for demolition do not by any means constitute obstruction to the project.
The community elders noted that most of the 50-metre expanse shall be reserved for machinery and equipment during construction work which, thereafter, may be abandoned, making it a hideout for hoodlums and social miscreants who constitute a burden for the law enforcement agents and threat to peace in the communities.