•As caterpillars return to Abule Ado in Amuwo-Odofin
By Maduka Nweke
Residents of Abule Ado in Amuwo-Odofin Local Government Area of Lagos State, woke up in the early hours of Monday November 20, 2023 to the news of another catastrophe likened to the explosions witnessed in the area about three years ago. The message was expected to tickle a discussion and resolution but the messengers did not wait to explore the benefits of a resolution before they resumed real action.
Daily Sun visited the area on Friday November 24 after the demolition started to ascertain the level of destruction by the caterpillars and what necessitated the actions.
One of the residents of the area, Mr. Samuel Obazee , a civil engineer, who spoke to Daily Sun, said he received a distress call from one of his co-landlords on Thursday November 23 who told him that Federal Housing Authority (FHA) has started pulling down houses in the area.
According to him, they immediately made calls and members of Shoba Landlord Association (SLA) assembled to makefurther contacts. “We tried to intervene to stop the work but one of the officials of FHA told us that a major road was earmarked to pass through Finiger area to other communities and that some of the houses were encroaching on the road.
“Among the buildings they pulled down was the fence of St. Joseph Catholic Church Abulado Out-Station along the EZIGOLD which was pulled down that Thursday. The reasons given for pulling down the fencewas that the land was not developed since it was allocated and that the Church bought the land from ‘Omonile’ and not from FHA. This was happening despite the fact that the Church was arranging with FHA for ratification.
“Since then, we have been making calls to concerned authorities but without any reasonable response to that effect. Our greatest concern was that they went inside the estates to pull down houses that are not even close to the road.
They will come, see a house in-between two other houses, they will pull down the one in the centre leaving other houses by the side. Even some landlords reaching agreement with FHA also had their buildings pulled down thereby creating confusion about the exact reason behind the exercise,” he said.
According to Mr. Calistus Ojukwu, one of the landlords around the EZIGOLD, the area really has issues with FHA who we understand represents the government but the issues have reached various levels of resolutions.
He said there was earlier warning against building along the roads or drainages that there would not be any negotiation in the event of any one defaulting. “Suddenly this week (last week), we saw them come with bulldozers. But in as much as these things are going like this, the serious cause for concern may be based on a preconceived idea which some people are chasing. This is because some times in the past, they came to demolish some of the buildings around the STONEWATER Estate here that are not even close to the perceived
main road.
“There was an intervention in the past either from the Court or something like that. That intervention was how the Landlords came together and met with FHA. Various questions were asked about the situation. So we started making negotiations and in their magnanimity, they came for house enumeration. After a series of meetings with the leadership of FHA, the Authority considered that these people have made a lot of concessions even though they bought their land in error. To this effect, they even used drones to enumerate houses to know the number of houses already built.
“But I can remember that during 2014, under President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, we were told the area was seized by a Concessionaire and that the area belongs to the Government. The press that came that day asked if it was true that the area belonged to the government and the authority under Ama Pepple as Minister of Housing answered in affirmation and ordered the FHA to create roads and drainage and arrange to give the people already living there the bills. They came that time and met some of our leaders including Chief Gani Adams.
After that meeting, the Concessionaire did not do anything again that year. The following year became the election year so nothing happened. After the election, they started coming but not on this side, pointing to the area he said was owned by the SHOBA Family. But this time, they came pointing everywhere.
“What annoys me about the demolition this time is that they don’t have a pattern. They come and any property they like goes down. This building is in-between two other buildings but they demolished it leaving others by the side. The owner spent above N300 million naira and they demolished and prepared to sell the plot at N20 million. Our grouse is that if they had asked the owner to pay a fine of say N10 million for it to stay, he would have paid it. How can you demolish a building worth more than N300 million only to sell the plot for N20 million? For me it does not make sense,” he concluded.
For Mr. Gideon Okafor, who deals in motor spare parts in his house, was also demolished. I constructed two buildings which they said were on the road. He said that he came to the area in 2010 and that by then, there was no road to get into the area. “After I stayed for some time, the FHA came and identified and measured the roads. It was because some Omoniles started selling areas seen to be the road that they came to at that time. They also came and demolished buildings around the STONE WATER Estate. When questions were asked about their action, they said that when last they came, the ones that have already been built were given numbers and the people were warned not to build again.
“It happened that after they left, the Omoniles came, giving the impression that they had taken over and started selling. So this time they came, those ones that were sold by the Omoniles which were not among the ones enumerated by FHA were demolished. All the houses around the STONEWATER Estate which were not given numbers were demolished no matter how much you spent building it. About four or more people spent over N400 million in their houses but these people did not consider anything. Even pleas to give them time to evacuate their property and belongings fell on deaf ears. They don’t care even if you have parked in. In fact it is a horrible sight to see how your hard earned money was destroyed within a twinkle of an eye like that,” he decried.
According to Mr. Christopher Olumba, one of the leaders of St. Joseph Catholic Church, Abulado, the way the destruction was carried does not show they have human face at all. “They were doing their deeds with their eyes closed. That is why they demolished the fence of St. Joseph Catholic Church, Abulado Out-Station with the reason that it was not developed. You know the Church takes time to do their construction.
The Church has also reached some levels of agreement with the authorities but these people did not ask questions. What they did was not proper at all. When further questioned why they demolished the Church fence, they said that any empty land they see, they will re-acquire because for them it was not sold legally,” he stated.