Gbenga Omotoso, the Lagos State Commissioner for Information, has stated that, buildings in the state cannot be removed without following due process.
The Lagos commissioner made this known during an interaction with newsmen, where he addressed claims made by the 2023 presidential candidate of the Labour Party, Peter Obi, on the demolition of his brother’s property in the Ikeja area of the state.
Obi alleged that a property belonging to his younger brother was demolished in Lagos without legal backing. He claimed that the demolition was carried out by unidentified persons acting on a vague court judgment that did not mention his brother, the property, or contain any demolition order.
Reacting to the allegation, Omotoso explained that the state government follows due process when tearing down any structure.
The commissioner said, “We follow the law in Lagos State. No building can be removed without due process.”
He further asked to find out from his colleagues about the demolition and get back to the aforementioned publication.
“Let me ask my colleagues and get back to you,” he said.
The spokesperson of the Lagos State Building Control Agency and the Lagos State Physical Planning Permit Authority, Abimbola Edmin-Umeh denied involvement in the demolition, saying, “We are not the ones who demolished the house; it is not from us.”
“I don’t know. I didn’t follow them on enforcement, but we don’t demolish. So I cannot say. Those people who go on monitoring are not yet around. And if the person (Obi) who said it, can show us the paper – maybe contravention notices – to show us which agency it is, then maybe I’ll be able to look into it,” she added in a telephone interview.
According to her, several agencies could carry out demolition depending on the agency carrying out such enforcement, based on the type of contravention levied against the property.