Sanwo-Olu: Help Stop Destruction of Oworonshoki

Toni Kan

Mr. Governor, in a few days, my siblings will be homeless without a roof over their heads. My daughter will lose the inheritance I had willed to her, and I will no longer be a landlord in Oworonshoki.

Except you come to our aid in Oworonshoki where forces beyond our control are on rampage, bulldozing houses with impunity, without explanation or hope of compensation.

This has been going on for months now. When it started, the story was that it would be limited to a specific swathe of land filled with illegal shanties and that only properties without papers would be affected.

I bought the property in 2007. I remember that morning. Mike, a young man who was renting my boys’ quarters in Gbagada had told me there was a piece of land for sale in Oworo. I went to check it out. I didn’t like it. I said no.

The street was flooded and the property I was being offered was submerged in water.

“Mr. Toni, buy it. It can become Waterfront GRA tomorrow,” his father whom I would end up calling Baba Mike told me.

Convinced by the old man who had a salesman’s gift of the garb, I bought it. It was surveyed. The deed of assignment and transfer was done and we set to work but as soon as we began draining the property and started stacking up blocks, Lagos state government officials showed up.

So my builder went to get a permit, and I have paid my land use charge every year on that property ever since in line with my undertaking in the deed to “pay all government levies, inclusive of all charges that may be imposed hereafter and from time to time by the Lagos state government or any lawful authority.

This year’s land use charge notice was signed by Mr. Abayomi Oluyomi, Honourable Commissioner of Finance. I have my bank payment code, payer ID and notice code.

For context: the land was bought originally on 31 December 1977 and I have my Plan Number issued by the Lagos State government.

Yet, I am about to lose that house because someone somewhere with power and fuelled with greed is land-grabbing and planning to build an oceanfront GRA. The promise I was sold 18 years ago is about to translate into pain, and there seems to be nothing any of us landlords can do.

Mr. Governor, I debated and agonised whether to write this open letter but an early morning call from my distraught siblings drove me to action as I listened to the sound of marauding bulldozers in the next street.

Why did I hesitate? Because of the fear that crying out might incense those grabbing our lands and put my siblings in danger.

The truth dear, sir, is that Oworo is under siege. Area boys working in cahoots with the land grabbers prowl the streets like militiamen.

People are beaten silly for taking pictures and making videos of bulldozers at work?

Last week, I read your comments about your commitment to safeguarding the lives, property, investments and the future of Lagos at the 19th Annual Town Hall Meeting organised by the Lagos State Security Trust Fund (LSSTF) with the theme “Building Trust, Enhancing Security: A New Era of Security and Partnerships” held at Eko Hotels and Suites, Victoria Island, Lagos.

Mr. Governor this is an opportunity to put words to action. Please help stop the wanton, unjustified and indiscriminate destruction of houses in Oworonshoki.

Please help us find out why those who present papers showing ownership and proof that they pay land use charges are being ignored and their houses not spared. How can our houses be illegal if we have been paying land use charges to the state?

Mr. Governor, there is something emasculating and patently evil about watching someone destroy your property without the ability to make them stop.

They say only a sheep goes to the slaughter without reaction. The people whose faces are being ground into the dust rising from the rubbles of their own homes are not sheep. They are citizens of the state you govern. Please help us.

The truth is, some of us can afford to walk away from the rubbles after the bulldozers have done their evil deed, but for many, it is akin to a death sentence; losing houses they slaved to build and which they have called homes for many years.

Baba Mike died three years ago after a long battle with prostate cancer. He will be rolling in his grave at his family’s imminent homelessness.

Mr. Governor, the end of the year is here and as I wish you and your family Merry Christmas, I hope you will spare a thought for all those families in Oworonshoki whose Christmas and New Year will neither be merry nor happy if the bulldozers keep roaring.

With respect and high regard.