Lagos State Government has said it has no hand on the ongoing demolition at Computer Village in Ikeja.
The Commissioner for Information & Strategy, Gbenga Omotoso, said this in a statement in Lagos.
According to him, the structure was owned by the Police Officers Wives Association (POWA), which ordered its demolition.
He said those “circulating the fake news that 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.”
“In my further enquiry, I was informed that the Computer Village has not been demolished.
” Investigation as at December 31, 2023 however shows that the computer village is intact, though the demolition affected the parcel of land belonging to the Police Officers’ Wives Association adjacent to the computer village.
” Human Rights activist and a Seniour Advocate of Nigeria, SAN, Femi Falana quoted the Nigeria Police Force, NPF, as saying the demolition and planned reconstruction of the Police Officers’ Wives Association (POWA) Shopping Complex, Ikeja, Lagos, was in good faith and for the interest of all concerned.
“However, I met some of the victims who claimed that they had secured a court injunction against the demolition. I have asked them to furnish me with a copy of the order of injunction,” he said
He however said that, “it is pertinent to point out that the demolition of markets and other properties is ongoing in the FCT, Lagos state, and other states in the Federation due to some anti- people’s urban renewal programmes.
“The war against markets started in Lagos in 2017. Having intervened on behalf of many of the victims, I can say, with concrete proof, that it is not an ethnic agenda. It is a war against the people as markets with a large population of other ethnic groups are being demolished.”