Coastal road project: Lagos assembly wades into planned demolition of Okun Ajah Community
…tells residents to stay calm
…as indigenes protest
By Olasunkanmi Akoni
The Lagos State House of Assembly is set to investigate the diversion of the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Road in the Okun Ajah Community in the Eti-Osa Local Government, LGA, of the state.
A member of the state House of Assembly, Femi Saheed, representing Kosofe Constituency 2, stated this during a peaceful protest by Indigenes and residents of the community, who stormed the Lagos State House of Assembly Complex in their hundreds.
The assembly also assured the aggrieved protesters that their grievances would be looked into and ensure that they get justice.
Saheed said: “You are all welcome to the Lagos State House of Assembly. This is your house.
“It is always in our culture to intervene, to intercede and to stand with the masses. You have genuine cases.
“Lagos State has a master plan. The Minister for Works told you reliably that the earmarked alignment for Costal road is going to be maintained. We will still stand by that.
“We are going to make sure that we fight your cause and ensure that justice is served in the right way.
“Be rest assured that the critical stakeholders in your community will be duly invited to come and submit their position and with that we can come to the round table and agree on a position that will be favourable to all.
“What we do at the Lagos House is to ensure that we intercede on behalf of the people and the government. We are not going to renege on that now “
The lawmaker stressed; “I can assure you in the name of the Speaker of the Lagos State House of Assembly that you will get justice.”
An indigene and a community leader in Okun Ajah, Yussuf Olatunji, while speaking on behalf of the protesters, said: “Our agitation is for the Minister of Works to keep to the 2006 Coastal road alignment.”
Olatunji added that:”In 2006, former governor and now President Bola Tinubu presented we the people of Okun Ajah with a Certificate of Occupancy of the community and there was a gazetted alignment for Coastal road.”
“When the road started now from kilometre 0-17, they maintained the coastal road alignment in the ongoing construction but from kilometre 17-22 , which is our community, they deviated from the gazetted alignment without giving any reason.
“At the last stakeholders’ meeting at Eko Hotel, the Minister for Works said it openly during a stakeholders’ meeting that he would return to the 2006 Coastal road alignment but yesterday, they came into the community again and started marking new buildings that are not part of the alignment “
He alleged that:” You can see clearly that most of the people, who built on the Coastal road and people from Ebonyi. He is playing the ethnicity card with a federal government project in Lagos.
“Our agitation is that they should carry the Lagos State Government along in the construction of the road. There is master plan. They should maintain the 2006 alignment.”
The community leader also condemned the intimidation and harassment of residents and house owners by soldiers, who were brought into the community by officials of the Ministry of Works.
Another resident, Alhaja Memunat Ologunro, also lamented the fate of the hundreds of residents, who will be affected by the deviation from the Coastal road alignment of 2006.”
She said: “He told all of us at the stakeholders meeting that he is going back to the 2006 old alignment. It is all over the media only for his men to come again and deviate from the alignment.”
Ologunro also urged the minister to save the community by maintaining the 2006 alignment or moving the ocean side as a way of preventing the community from being submerged by the ocean.
She stressed that:” This an opportunity to save the community from the ocean by filling the shoreline and construct the Coastal road there.
“We have been to other countries. Their coastal roads are near the ocean. Why will you bring our own in the middle of the town.”
