The Force Public Relations Officer of the Nigeria Police, Muyiwa Adejobi, on Tuesday, reiterated that the demolition of the Police Officers’ Wives Association Shopping Complex in the Computer Village, Ikeja area of Lagos, was duly approved.
PUNCH Metro reported on Monday that shop owners counted their losses following the demolition of the complex in the early hours of Sunday.
Adejobi had last Saturday said the complex was due for demolition “to enable the Force to commence immediate construction of a modern shopping complex on the same land.”
In his Saturday statement, he said, “All necessary legal requirements have been duly met. The current occupants of the complex have been given more than enough notice of the demolition to enable their evacuation from the facility in good time, and necessary steps have been taken to temporarily accommodate them within the same complex while the reconstruction lasts.”
Responding to claims of some of the affected occupants of the complex that the demolition was illegal, the FPRO in a message sent to our correspondent said the occupants were duly informed. He claimed that the occupants also declined meetings before the demolition.
Adejobi said, “They had been informed, they were even called for a series of meetings. They had been declining calls for meetings. Hence, POWA got all the necessary approvals to go ahead with the demolition. The state government was also involved in the demolition process. That allegation or claim from the occupants was not true. Disregard please.”
But reacting in a telephone interview on Tuesday, one of the shop owners, Okeke Ifeanyi, said the demolition was illegal.
Okeke said, “Last Thursday, we were surprised that they came to seal up the (now demolished) building that they gave us 24 hours to pack out. Before then, there were speculations they would come and destroy the place so we had to go to court because there was no formal notice that they were coming (to demolish it).”
He said the occupants also served petitions to necessary authorities including POWA that was aimed at averting any demolition.
Okeke therefore said, “We are seeking justice because they destroyed our properties and goods. How can you come by midnight to destroy it if it was legal? They know we had travelled and they came on a public holiday.”
Another shop owner, Emeka Aghulor, who also spoke via the telephone with our correspondent, said, “We have gone to every authority. We served them and they claimed they didn’t know anything about it. They came with their task force vehicles while our goods were there.”
PUNCH Metro reports that the state government in a statement on its official X handle, @followlasg, on Sunday evening, said it had nothing to do with the demolition at the Computer Village, saying, “The structure is owned by the Police Officers Wives Association, which ordered its demolition.”
The statement signed by the Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Gbenga Omotoso, added that, “Those circulating the fake news that the Lagos State Government is demolishing Computer Village are opportunistic ethnic chauvinists who will always relish in vacuous propaganda that can fuel their fiendish mission; they will always fail in dividing Lagosians.”
On his part, the Chairman, Computer Dealer Association, in Computer Village, Tayo Shittu, demanded compensation.
Shittu said, “When they came, everyone had travelled. We need justice. We have our tenancy running. Some of us have tenancies running till 2025 and 2026. If you’re coming to do such a thing, what tenable (compensation) did you present?”
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