Civil society groups and rights activists have condemned the police crackdown on residents of waterfront communities who staged a protest at the Lagos State House of Assembly on Wednesday, January 28, over forced eviction and demolition of their properties.
They called on the Lagos State Police Command to unconditionally release all the protesters arrested, including one of the protest leaders, Hasan Taiwo Soweto.
Pinnacle Daily had reported that residents of Makoko, Oko Agbon, Shogunro, Oworonshoki, Otumara, Bariga, Ajegunle, Owode Onirin, and other affected communities staged a peaceful protest over ongoing demolitions that have displaced many families.
The protest march, which took off from Ikeja Underbridge, was peaceful until they reached the State Assembly complex and were barricaded at the gate by police officers on the orders of the Commissioner, Moshood Jimoh. The officers fired teargas canisters and also opened fire on protesters in an attempt to disperse them.
Several protesters sustained injuries as security operatives fired teargas canisters at close range and shot sporadically to disperse the crowd.
Pinnacle Daily gathered that the protest leader, Soweto, was arrested while he was addressing protesters seated on the ground. His comment, accusing the police of being responsible for the killing of some residents who protested during demolition exercises, was said to have angered the Police Commissioner, who allegedly threatened to deal with him. An unconfirmed number of other demonstrators were also arrested during the crackdown.
Addressing journalists on Wednesday evening during a press briefing organised by the Coalition against Demolition, Forced Eviction, Land grabbing and Displacement in Lagos State, the civil rights activists highlighted the ordeals of families, including school children, who have been displaced as a result of the forced eviction and demolition of their properties by the Lagos State government.
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Speaking at the media briefing, Zikora Ibeh, Assistant Executive Director of Corporate Accountability & Public Participation Africa (CAPPA), said that many families have been displaced and their livelihoods destroyed, as many now sleep in open boats on the water, exposing women and girls to risk of sexual violence.
She expressed concern that the Lagos State government has also destroyed schools in Makoko in the course of the demolition exercise, leading to an increase in the number of out-of-school children. She said the incident in Makoko has been replicated in several other communities across the state, where the pattern of the government has been to take over properties in prime locations like waterfronts and displace residents and exchange the land with cronies to build fanciful structures that do not benefit the entire population.
These, she said, led to the protest by the affected residents, who demanded that the poor should not be driven away from Lagos State.
Ms Ibeh expressed dismay over the cruel manner in which police dealt with protesters, including aged people and schoolchildren, even when they were peaceful. She said demonstrators only demanded to speak with lawmakers who are their representatives at the State Assembly, but were ignored.
“The State government, through the House of Assembly members, refused to open the gate for Lagosians to speak to them, and right in front of them, the police began to intimidate peaceful demonstrators,” Ibeh stated.
The rights activist said some of the lawmakers were standing at the gate when police started firing teargas on protesters, arrested a number of them, and taken to an unknown location.
“They have kidnapped Comrade Hasan Taiwo Soweto. We don’t know where he is; his phone is ringing, but he is not picking up. So, the Lagos State government has to account for that. They also forcefully kidnapped elderly people from different communities. I don’t know why the state has decided to be so heartless and insensitive. As we speak to you, hundreds of Lagosians are currently detained by the state,” Ibeh said.
Comrade Alex Omotehinse, President, Centre for Human and Socioeconomic Rights (CHSR) said right from the converging point at the Ikeja Underbridge, police officers made a series of attempts to harass and intimidate protesters, but they remained peaceful and undeterred as they marched to the State Assembly complex in Alausa.
Omotehinse said the police prevented demonstrators from accessing the Assembly podium to speak with their lawmakers. He said three lawmakers came out with the intention to address protesters, but later went back before the police unleashed an attack on them. According to him, the lawmakers include the State Assembly spokesperson, Hon. Stephen Olukayode Ogundipe (Oshodi 01), Hon. Abdulkareem Jubril Ayodeji (Agege 02), and Hon. Tobun Abiodun (Epe 01).
He alleged that before the attack, the commissioner of police had displayed open aggression against protesters, especially against Soweto, whose whereabout is not yet known.
“As I am talking to you now, Soweto is nowhere to be found. The Commissioner of Police and his team kidnapped him. His whereabout is not yet known,” Omotehinse stated.
He said two people from Owode Spare Parts Market who were victims of the forceful eviction called to inform that they were being held at the governor’s office shortly after police dispersed protesters.
Omotehinse accused Jimoh of being partisan and insensitive to the plight of the residents affected by the eviction, adding that he is not fit to be a commissioner of police in a state like Lagos and should be removed from office.
“The commissioner is the one who is giving instructions. In our presence, he instructed his men to shoot. They shot teargas, several people were injured, journalists were arrested and released thereafter,” he said.
He called for the immediate release of people arrested during the demonstration, insisting that the protest would continue until justice is achieved.
Comrade Blessing Osugba, a member of the organising committee of the End Bad Governance movement in Lagos State, also decried the actions of security operatives against protesters. Osugba called for a halt to all ongoing demolitions, adequate compensation to the victims, and the immediate release of all arrested protesters.
“We are demanding the unconditional release of all protesters arrested, and we are asking the government to put a halt to all demolitions, compensate all the victims adequately,” she stated.
Also speaking, Comrade Ibrahim Oluwatobiloba of the Voice of the Masses and Support for Credible Leadership, described what happened at the State Assembly complex as reminiscent of the military era.
He wondered why the police would descend heavily on peaceful protesters demanding justice over the forceful eviction. He also maintained that the protest would continue until the government listened to them.
Another speaker, Babatunde Yusuf of the Ajegunle Peoples Movement, lamented that even elderly people were not spared in the crackdown by the police.
“People above 70 and 80 years were only carrying placards protesting to show the world what has happened in various communities across Lagos State, yet they were arrested,” Oluwatobiloba stated, adding that the protest was also to debunk claims by the Lagos State government that nobody was killed during the enforcement of demolitions.
He called on the Nigeria Labour Congress, Nigeria Bar Association, and other advocacy groups to join in the struggle to stop the forceful eviction of people living in the waterfront, noting that the state government is only interested in profits from sales of the properties to cronies.
Yusuf alleged that the Lagos State government was given over $200 million by the World Bank to develop Waterfront communities, but nothing was done.
He said instead of dislodging the residents at a time when poverty is rising, the government could upgrade the areas while maintaining their rights to shelter and dignity.
Comrade Ayoyinka Oni, an activist and former Coordinator of Take it Back Movement, said it is quite sad that innocent people who came out to protest against injustice meted out to them were brutalized by security operatives that supposed to protect them.
Oni said there is a court judgment stopping the Lagos State government from carrying out the demolitions, but it has been ignored.
The Lagos State government has continued to defend the demolition exercises, claiming that it was necessary for development, protection of lives, public infrastructure and the environment.
However, rights activists and advocacy groups have criticised the actions, stressing that there ought to be adequate consultation with the communities and proper consultation.
Victor Ezeja is a passionate journalist, scholar and analyst of socioeconomic issues in Nigeria and Africa. He is skilled in energy reporting, business and economy, and holds a master's degree in mass communication.
