WEEPING is obviously one activity that no human being would ordinarily desire to engage in, but for the residents of Atiporomeh, Araromi Ale and Muwo Phase II, along Badagry area of Lagos State, weeping appears inevitable.
Bread of sorrow has been forced down their throat and they cannot but weep and swallow their tears to water down their anguish.
From one end of the communities to the other, the people have continuously been weeping for the past one year. Even the aged residents, whose tear ducts might have dried up over the years, are also weeping profusely.
Like a sufferer of Vesico Virginal Fistula (VVF) would pass out urine without control, their tear ducts seem to have been punctured and incapable of controlling tears again, making them to weep uncontrollable.
They are wailing because their houses which most of them built with their gratuities and life savings have been controversially demolished, leaving them to be wandering about like vagabonds.
Their travails were said to have begun when a letter was sent to the traditional ruler of the community, Chief Joshua Medepo from the office of the Commissioner of Police ‘A’ Division , Lagos Police Command, Ikeja, Lagos, informing the people that the land on which they built their houses belonged to the police.
The letter, dated December 14, 2013, was said to have been delivered same day while the demolition exercise began on the 16 through 17. It was signed by one DCP F.G Ogundeji, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Admin) on behalf of the Commissioner of Police.
A copy of the letter made available to The Nation titled: “ Encroachment on the Police Land Located at Agemowo/Agelado Mowo Via Badagry read in part: This is to inform you about the encroachment on the above land measuring 64.429hectares by some persons believed to be your subjects.
“The land which was duly allocated to the Nigerian Police by the Lagos State Government with Certificate of Occupancy No 33/33/2009 is for the building of housing units for its personnel. The project will commence anytime from now.
“You are hereby put on notice and requested to warn all those on the land to vacate immediately to pave way for hitch free execution of the project by the developer.”
Relying on the information contained in the letter, Chief Charles Adu, the chairman of the embattled communities wondered why the police chose to come to their communities instead of going to Agemowo/Agelado communities written on the letter sent to the traditional ruler. “Agemowo/Ageladoand is also written on the Certificate of Occupancy issued to the police by the Lagos State government. Agemowo/Agelado communities are quite distinct and do not share same boundary with our communities. The notice to vacate our lands was wrongly served on us by the Nigerian Police as we are not in occupation of Agemowo/Agelado land, ” Chief Adu pointed out.
A visit to the community showed that massive construction works are currently going on, on the land.
This, in the view of Chief Adu, “is a contravention of the ruling ( Suit No BD/22M/2008) given by Hon Justice Y.A Adesanya of the High Court of Lagos State, Badagry Judicial Division on 9th of September, 2014.”
A copy of the ruling on the Interlocutory Injunction made available to The Nation read in part: “An order of Interlocutory Injunction retraining all the parties herein i.e the Claimants, Defendants and Counter- claimants whether by themselves, their Servants, Agents, Officers, Privies and others acting in their stand from erecting or constructing a fence or building on that large expanse of land measuring 64.429 hectares situate, lying and being at Muwo via Badagry Lagos State covered by survey plan No: LS/D/BG/749 dated 25/09/08 and delineated with Beacon Nos. G.14484; G.14486;G.14487;G14488;G.14489; G14490;G14491;G14492;G14493, prepared by B.O Kayode, Chief Surveyor pending the hearing of the substantive suit.”
Checks revealed that a good number of the victims have consequently moved from the position of owning houses to that of people living in goat houses and uncompleted buildings.
Eight of the victims, it was learnt, have died within a space of one year with several others suffering from high blood pressure and other shock related sicknesses.
More than one year after the demolition, some of the disheveled aged victims are still crying and searching for accommodation.
Mrs Akpokona Janet a septuagenarian and formerly a proud owner of a three bedroom flat is one of the victims wandering about in desperate search for accommodation. She has been ejected from the one room apartment she is currently living in. She described the one room apartment as Kirikiri Phase One because of the horrible state of the building.
She said: “Look at where I, who owned a decent flat is living. This place is worse than a goat house. I often refer to it as Kirikiri Phase One because it doesn’t have ventilation and it is a breeding ground for mosquitoes.
“My husband is a retired soldier. It was the gratuity they paid him that he used to build the demolished house- a three bedroom flat. The building was the only fruit that he could show for all his labour in the service to the country but they have pulled it down unjustly. We have no wherewithal to get a decent accommodation and that is why we have settled for the kind of place we are living right now.
“To make matters worse, we have been asked to leave the place. We don’t know how to get accommodation because the money to do that is not available. We lived in an open field for four good weeks after the incident before we were permitted to stay here.
“I am running around to beg for accommodation because I don’t want to go back to that kind of life again. My family and I really need help because the condition we have found ourselves is deteriorating our health.
Victoria Moses 72, was covered with sorrow when our reporter encountered her. In a chat with The Nation, she bemoaned her plight saying: “I am looking for where to put my head. I don’t want to sleep by the road side anymore. I never planned for all these and that was why my hubby and I suffered a great deal to build the demolished house.
“My hubby emptied his bank account and with my support, we built the house in question. We were moving from one spot to the other until somebody gave us a room in an uncompleted building to occupy.
“I have just been told to move out of the place by the owner because she wants to make use of it. I have been running around all this while to see if anybody could help me but I have got none.”
Recalling her experience when the demolition took place, she said: “When they came to demolish my house, I was only strapping a wrapper on my body and didn’t wear ordinary pant. I kept running about and couldn’t take a pin out of the building.
“All my pigs and chickens that I was rearing ran away in the course of the demolishing the building. I have nothing I can call my own again. All the materials used for the building were removed and sold by the people that came to demolish the house.
“The temporary relief I got is about slipping off and I am about being plunged into another round of sorrow which is not good for me at this age. I don’t have any money to get accommodation.” It would have been manageable to live in the open in dry season but that would not be possible now that rainy season is coming.”
The countenance of Mr and Mrs Remi Agoro, a couple, attracted pity when our reporter met them. The husband, a 75 year-old looked seriously sick and could barely stand from where he sat. He was said to have developed a debilitating sickness since his building was demolished.
“I managed to build the house, a four bedroom flat four years ago. I have been acutely sick and can’t do any work since they demolished my house. The house was all I had and depended upon,” he briefly remarked before slumping into a long silence and empty gaze into the sky.
Continuing from where he stopped, the wife said: “ He slumped when the building was being demolished. He was later revived and given tins of milk to drink to stabilize him. I have been feeding him all along because he can’t raise his hands to eat by himself.
“While my husband was manifesting his shock by slumping, I literarily went mad running up and down and screaming because I could not comprehend the fate that had befallen us. It was sympathizers and concerned people in the neighbourhood that an after me held me.
“Both of us are still nursing one sickness or the other.
“I am only better because I have some energy to move about. We have lost it all because one of the worst things that can happen to any human being is to move from having a roof, a decent one for that matter, over his head to begging to stay in place that is not fit for his pet to live in.”
Mrs. Bose Oyeonoye was yet to overcome her emotions when she met our reporter. “Tears are still dropping from my eyes and I don’t know when it will stop,” she said.
“Do you know what it takes to use all your live savings to build a house with the hope that you will have roof over your head and will not be at the mercy of landlords in your old age?, she asked rhetorically.
She added: “Our building was a four-bedroom apartment. We built the house starving and depriving ourselves all the basic comforts of life but today, we have been rendered homeless. We that used to live comfortably and decently, are now begging to live in an uncompleted building.
“I am not talking of living in a flat but a room in an uncompleted house. Is that not enough to make one to die of high blood pressure. I would have died by now if my husband and my children have not been consoling and encouraging me to have faith in God. My blood pressure is always rising each time I pass through the demolished building because it instantly reminds me of how all my labour and that of my husband has been wasted. Where, at my age would I get money to buy land and start building again?
Ifeoma, another victim was seen shaving the head of her husband, Adamu Musa, when The Nation encountered them. The husband, apparently yet to overcome the shock of the incident was reluctant to recount his experience. He simply asked rhetorically: “What do you want me to talk about? I have been talking all along without any positive change. I have lost everything and as I am talking to you now, I have no means of livelihood. This is why you can see my wife shaving my head for me. If I were to have money, would I not go to barbing salon to have my haircut? This is what I have been reduced to. I don’t want to say anything more than that my brother.”
The wife told our reporter that they built a four bedroom apartment hoping that had been freed from the hounding of landlords. She recalled that they were sleeping in an open field for several weeks before they got a room apartment to live in.
“My husband used all he had acquired in life to build the house. He became disoriented immediately the house was demolished and has been out of job since then.
“It has not been easy for us since then. We have been plunged from the state of grace to that grass overnight. It was a sort of horror watching a house you laboured in the rain and in the sun to build with your life savings pulled down just like that. So many others have died as a result of the shock that they suffered but we thank God that he helped us to survive the trauma.
Mrs Ada Adu a proud owner of a duplex and a shopping complex tells how her family has been battling with one sickness or the other since they lost their prized buildings to the demolition exercise.
“We are presently living an uncompleted building where mosquitoes and others flying insects have been compounding our woes. The place we are right now is not conducive at all. It is not the kind of house that our children were used to. We have all been suffering one sickness or the other since we moved into the uncompleted building. It is heart rending moving from a duplex to an uncompleted building. ”
“The uncompleted building was not given to us free of charge to live in. We are paying the rent of the two room apartment we are occupying. My children didn’t go to school for a year after the demolition because I moved them to the village while my husband and I squatted with a relation.”
Olawumi Kanisuru and her family have been sleeping residing in her small shop since their building was demolished.
Sharing her experience, she said: “We built a three bedroom and four self contain apartments for tenants with the hope of getting some money from there to augment whatever we get from our business to take care of the family.
“All that have gone down the drain today. We have been living inside my small shop since they demolished the buildings. It is not convenient in any way. We used to sleep conveniently in our house but here in the shop, we always lay on top of each other because there is no enough space for us to stretch our bodies.
“The shop wasn’t roofed before. It was after the demolition that kind hearted people assisted us with some money to cover it up to some extent. We have been returned to a state of life that is worse than where we started from and darkness has suddenly overshadowed our day. We have cried, cried and cried but nothing appears to be forthcoming from all that.”
Victim of erroneous demolition count losses
A victim who gave his name as Olarenwaju Ganiyu however has a different story to tell. Shortly after his building was demolished, he said, the police authorities came back to say that his house was demolished in error. In spite of the admittance, he said he was not given any compensation.
“I bought the land in 1998 and started living here in 2009. My building was a standard three bedroom. It wasn’t easy raising money to build the house because I am just an artisan. I managed to build the house one room after the other until I completed it.
“When they demolished my house, I moved my wife and my children to my village and started squatting with a friend. My children did not go to school for a whole year that they stayed in the village. Shortly after they pulled down my house, they came back and said it was not part of the houses that they were supposed to demolish. I have just started building afresh but I must confess to you that it has not been easy. I have only been able to put up two rooms since then.
“After all the loss and sorrow they have caused me and my household, they did not give me a dime as compensation. It is still from my sweat that I have started hustling to raise money to build this new place.”
He hinted that he was not the only victim of the erroneous demolition, adding: “I am not the only one that suffered that fate. We are many. The man behind my house never lived in his house for a minute. His house was demolished a day to the day that he was supposed to move into his house.
“He is presently homeless and does not have any money to even build a room to keep himself and his family.
We didn’t just start building on the land. We bought them and have been paying land use charge to the Lagos State government.”
How victims died
Speaking, the spokes person of the victims, Chief Charles Adu said no fewer than eight victims have died after the demolition.
“We have lost about eight victims so far. Many of them died of hypertension while some bled to death through their noses and ears. The most recent of them, Margaret died last month.
“There was a victim that had her building and that three others belonging to two of her sons demolished. She died of high blood pressure because the shock was too much for her to bear.
“There was also a hotelier whose name was Mayegun. He died after the demolition leaving about 10 under aged children behind. His house and hotel were demolished. He had built the hotel and planning to open it when they came and demolish it. The exercise happened a day before he planned to open the hotel.”
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