By Cosmas Omegoh
Owners of a recently demolished multi-million naira shopping complex on Nos 7, 9 and 11 Akinsemoyin Street, by Breadfruit Street, Balogun, Lagos, on Monday, staged a peaceful protest at the venue, calling on Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu to intervene in the matter.
The traders, who came out to protest the wanton demolition of the complex on August 20, 2023, asked the governor to urgently intervene, to avoid a total breakdown of law and order in the area.
The traders led by Mr Chidozie Chikelu, the developer of the complex, told newsmen that they could not understand why the building was destroyed on the grounds that it stood on government-acquired land, when another developer was allegedly building on it.
Spokesman for the traders, Emeka Ojiego, said they were all woken up one Sunday morning in August that officials of the Lagos State Building Control Agency (LABSCA), Lagos State Urban Renewal Agency (LASURA), Lagos State Physical Planning Permit Authority and a team of armed policemen were demolishing the complex. He alleged that the building was brought down without the traders salvaging their wares.
“We were not only surprised that our building was brought down in a manner eliciting much suspicion, we were shocked that the authorities have allowed Saheed Keshinro to build on it,” Ojeigo, a filmmaker, said.
“It is the worst kind of double-speak we know, and we are determined to get to the bottom of the matter. The most baffling aspect of this whole drama is the fact that despite a court injunction restraining the encroacher, he has continued to build in defiance of the court ruling on October 12, 2023, obtained by the Akinsemoyin family, the original owners of the land. We are calling on the governor to intervene in the matter. We are also asking LABSCA, LASURA, LASPPPA and so on, to speak on the same matter.”
Two members of the Akinsemoyin family – Messrs Oyeku Akinsemoyin and Gbenga Akinsemoyin – condemned the alleged reckless invasion of their family land by Saheed Keshinro and his backers.
“The land on which Saheed Keshinro is building, after the demolition of the complex built by Chidozie Chikelu, belongs to our family. We have owned the rights to the land since it was acquired in 1944. It is a freehold, and there has never been any contention over it till now.
“We, the Akinsemoyin family, duly signed a 15-year agreement leasing this land to Chikelu of Good Wave Resources Limited, and not to anyone else. We are surprised that despite a subsisting court injunction forbidding further activity on the land after that unfortunate demolition that took place on August 20, 2023, Keshinro has continued to work on the land, something we all view as unbridled impunity,” they said.