SAN FRANCISCO, April 19, (THEWILL) – Residents of Otodo-Gbame in Lagos stormed the Government House, Alausa, Ikeja, on Wednesday, protesting the destruction of their houses by the state government.
The protesters forced their way into the House in spite of a barricade mounted by police to prevent them from gaining entrance as they disrupted activities at the gate of the House for about two hours.
NAN reports that the state government had evicted hundreds of residents of Otodo-Gbame area of Lekki, citing security reasons.
But the protesters, who claimed to have stayed on the waterfronts for years, carried placards with inscriptions such as: “300,000 evicted’’ and “land sold to the rich”.
The spokesman of the group, Paul Kunnu, said that they had documented their requests in a recent meeting with some government officials claiming that the requests were not given any consideration.
“Yesterday (Tuesday), we had a meeting with government officials; they told us to bring the list of the people living in the community which is impossible for us, as we are more than 30,000.
“The government promised to give us special assistance in terms of food stuffs, but that is not our demand. We only want our lands back.
“At our last meeting with them, one of them told us not to mention anything about the land again or they would send us away,” he said.
According to the spokesman, the group had requested for restoration of their lands and security measures to guard them against attacks by hoodlums.
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