By Debo Oladimeji
THE Maroko evictees, who are resettled in Ikota Low-Cost Housing Estate in Eti-Osa Local Council of Lagos State 32 years ago, are now living in fear of demolition of their houses by land-grabbers. And they want the state and federal governments, as well as the international community to wade in and stop further demolition of their houses by the land-grabbers before they are once again rendered homeless.
One of them, Mr. Olaoluwa Shittu, whose house was later demolished, said before then, he had been living in the estate for a very long time.
“We were surprised when they just came to mark my house for demolition, but they started demolishing houses since March. They have succeeded in blocking our waterways, so that the water will enter peoples’ houses and force them to leave.”
He regretted that their streets are now usually flooded whenever it rains, adding: “It is the work of these people who are demolishing our houses. They are not from government, but they tell people that they are from the government. They have one form that they give to people and once you fill that form, they give you N30, 000 as compensation for your house they demolished.
“We are saying that this is an injustice. We are calling on the state and federal governments, as well as the United Nations (UN) to come and rescue us from these land- grabbers, so that they stop harassing us, chasing us around with guns.”
Patron of the Landlord Association, Mr. I.A. Onakoya, who built his house in Maroko in 1970, noted: “Since then, we have our landlord association. I have about 17 rooms in my house in Maroko before they gave me this room and parlor here In Ikota. I am now 81, I don’t know at my age where I am going to sleep if they demolish this place. Let people come and help us.”
Secretary of the Ikota Landlord Association, Mr. Sonuga Olusola Adeyemi, also appealled to government to come to their aid: “We have been suffering since we were evicted from Maroko in 1990. Up till this moment, no respite. We want the government to come to our aid, to assist us, in terms of good living. We need schools, good roads, good drainage system and hospitals.”
Adeyemi regretted that the Community Development Association (CDA) officials have not been representing the association very well, pointing out that the same way Maroko was said to be a slum and below sea level is how they are describing Ikota now. He stated: “Let me tell you that there are lots of places that look like slums. Is Ajiran not a slum? VGC, Ajah, Ilaje, Igbo Efan. Go there anytime that it is raining, you will see water flowing into their various homes.”
He said there is no disparity between the allottees and non-allottees in Ikota, just that the allottees are those fortunate to get allocation papers from the government, while the non- allottees are those whose houses were demolished in Maroko, but were not fortunate to have allocation papers from the government to back it up, even though they had Deeds of Lease that they use to buy their lands in Maroko.
“There are also some people that were given allocation papers, but were not fortunate to have HFP buildings built on those slabs.”
He regretted that some of the CDA officials are using the situation to extort money from the people, wondering where the land-grabbers expect people to go when they demolish their houses, just as he said: “The answer should be given to the developer, because under the former governor of Lagos State, Mr. Raji Fashola, he said where would I take this people to? Government does not have land to accommodate the population of the people in this community and he said we should go and regularise our papers.
“Even when we went to Lagos Building Investment Company (LBIC), the managing director said that government does not have money, so it cannot develop Ikota for us, but that government might use a developer who is rich enough to negotiate with us on what we want, not what he wants, to develop Ikota for us.”
Adeyemi explained that the demolition has aggravated to the level of the developer demolishing HFP flats allocated to the landlords under duress, adding: “Let them tell us what they are demolishing for. You are demolishing peoples house for what? Let us see the faceless developer. And what is the project for? Is it to return everybody back to the village? Is that their plan?
“The government promised to build about 10,000 homes for Maroko evictees. I can remember vividly the governor of Lagos State then that promised after a lot of negotiations that they were going to build 10,000 homes for the Maroko evictees. They could only afford to build 2,000 homes. This HFP building was neglected because they didn’t build it for us. We that are still living in the building, we are suffering because during the dry season, everywhere look hellish, hot.”
Mrs. Roseline Odimuko disclosed that when the military government gave Maroko residents seven days ultimatum in 1990, they thought that it was a joke, and it is similar to what the land-grabbers are doing in Ikota now.
“We don’t have any other place to go. Did they want to push us inside the sea? Let government come and help us and stop these people demolishing our houses,” she lamented, charging the developer to come and meet the landlords’ association to begin to discuss the processes of developing the estate.
On her part, Mrs. Olabisi Saka said the LBIC asked the developer to form a committee with landlords’ association and their lawyer, but instead the Multipurpose Infrastructural Development Company (MIDC), the developer, is not forthcoming.
“And before they come to demolish, they did not notify us; they just took over our land. Some people are now dead, including a pregnant woman, while other victims of the demolition exercise are now living without adequate shelters and use nylon to cover their bodies in the night. We are not refugees; we are Nigerians,” she stressed.
Mrs. Ngozi Opara disclosed that she lost all she had in Maroko and with her three kids, trekked to Jakande on that fateful day of the 1990 demolition, recalling with pain: “I was like nine months pregnant then. I gave birth on the road and the baby died because of the cold. They rushed me to the hospital.”
She was surprised when they started demolishing some parts of Ikota Low-Cost Housing Estate: “They gave people forms to fill under gun point. Whether you collect it or not, your house will be demolished. So, they started demolishing the houses up to this time. We are begging the governor of Lagos State to help us to stop the demolition.
“They don’t mark houses for demolition in the day time again; it is in the night that they are coming to mark the houses.”
For Mrs. Abigail Yakubu, who was very young in 1990, but witnessed the onslaught on Maroko, added her voice: “After the Maroko people opened up this place, a lot of people started coming to build houses in this Ikota. Unfortunately, some people now came and said this place is not good for us to live.
“A lot of our people died in this place. They died as a result of malaria and all sorts of diseases. If this kind of treatment happens to Nigerians in other countries, the Nigerian government would say they are maltreating its people. We went through a lot of things in this place, if we start recalling, it is terrible.”
Mr. Ogbaru Koro recalled that his father built a house in Maroko before they demolished it and unfortunately, he was not given allocation paper, saying: “How many flats do we have here in Ikota? The people they demolished their houses in Maroko are more than one thousand people that came to this Ikota.
“My dad was not given allocation paper; he has right to build a house in this place.”
Koro said the CDA that is meant to develop the area is doing nothing in Ikota, but only eager to collect electricity bills, adding: “They did not allow us to mount our prepaid metres; they give us estimated bills. We want the officials of the current CDA to be dissolved.”
Those aggrieved have gone to the state High Court in Yaba to stop further demolitions and were asked to go with their lawyer, Felix Morka, for mediation. But while waiting for the mediation to take place, demolition continued, and short increased.
One of the landlords, Mr. Abdulsherif Olayinka, who doubles as the Treasurer of the landlords’ association in the community, said: “What is worrisome concerning this matter is that we have been to everywhere, even some government offices and they said they don’t know anything about the demolition.
“We have gone to court and they say that the landlords and the developers should go for mediation. We did not solicit for any developer; it is the developers that come here on their own.
“We told them that we have our lawyer, Felix Morka, and that they should let us call our lawyer. That was how the landlords went against the developer that they brought. The next thing we saw was demolition of houses.”
He explained that they want Ikota to be developed for Ikota people, adding: “Where is the land to move us to? People are now dying while fighting for their rights. They are given people a token to take over their house, when a plot of land here is worth N300million. ”
“Many poor women are now fleeing their houses. Had it being you came here last week Monday, you would have been shocked. They are still saying that they are coming to demolish government flats when the landlords have not sold their houses. You know how expensive it is to rent a house in Nigeria now. Even to get a room self-contained is so expensive. So, where will those people they are evicting get money to rent a place?”
Spokesman of the landlords’ association, Mr. Olumide Onipede, explained that they are living under threat: “We don’t have peace of mind in our own home anymore, and these are allocated houses. We were moved from Maroko to this place and we have our documents with us. It is said that once beaten is twice shy. How can some people just come to our community, saying that we should forcefully sell our land to them and for what? You cannot buy somebody’s property forcefully.”
Onipede dismissed the information some landlords/landladies are already collecting N1.5million from the developers, saying: “The developers are acting as if they have bought the houses from the landlords; they are just using us to play games. They will now tell you as a tenant to leave the house with N200, 000, that the house belongs to them, which is just a game.
“The owner of the house is not informed that somebody has taken possession of his house. Let them come on air and show it on air that they bought the house for N1.5million from any of the landlords/landladies. You cannot buy the houses from anybody when there is issue over the land. They are not buying the houses from the rightful owners; they are just playing tricks.”
Chairman of the landlords’ association, Mr. Titus Ewarawon, regretted that after losing four houses in Maroko, the government gave him only one room and parlour in Ikota.
“The CDA are the ones causing this problem for us. We don’t have schools and the land-grabbers are now demolishing the schools that some people built for us. That is very painful. We want government to help us, because we all voted for them.
“We are really suffering and some of our people have died. In the past, some land-grabbers entered here and killed four of our young men. We thank God that in this present scenario, no life have been lost. That is why we are begging government to intervene before it will reach that level. Let the government come and stop the demolition going on in Ikota Low-Cost Housing Estate. Let them help us to develop the place,” he appealled.
Ewarawon said although they are ready for mediation, but he feared that they may get to the mediation and may not agree with what the developers have for them, noting: “We can get to the mediation and we cannot agree with what they say, because this place, it is the government that resettled us here. What we want is let government develop this place for us and let us live a comfortable life. They cannot resettle us here from Maroko and say they want to move us to another place again.”
Meanwhile, Counsel to the Ikota landlords’ association, Morka, said the demolition of houses must stop and the developers should dialogue with the association as they are the real stakeholders.
But Chairman of the Community Development Association (CDA) in Ilasan Housing Estate, another Maroko resettlement estate, Mr. Kazeem Suleman, and President of Ilasan Landlord Association, Prince Orioye Oluwaseyi, regretted the seven-day quit notice recently given to some of the residents of the estate by government.
Oluwaseyi recalled that they have stopped the quit notice given to some of the Maroko evictees living in the emergency structures in the estate, adding: “Sequel to the marking of the emergency structures owned by Maroko evictees in the estate and the seven days quit notice given to the people by the LBIC, the CDA/Landlord Association, including Messrs Murphy Ogunderu, Alaba Ajayi, Benson Oketola and Andrew Oretan visited the affected area and we are now doing enumeration exercise of the people, collecting the details with our lawyers.”
As it stands, only governments’ intervention would save Maroko evictees from a second forceful ejection from Ikota, where they were resettled in 1990.
