by Dotun Olawoye

 

The Big Brother Naija reality show finally came to an end on Sunday 9th of April with millions of Nigerians voting for their favourite housemate, one vote cost as much as #30. There was a report while the show was still on that 11 million Nigerians voted in one week (check screen shot, attached) – you can see how much it is in a month and the show was on for 3months or so.

Now, while this reality show was ongoing, the Lagos state government was equally demolishing a poor community, Otodo Gbame – Force Eviction. There was a court injunction stopping the Lagos state government from demolishing any waterfront community in Lagos, but they won’t obey the court.

“Our government… teaches the whole people by its example. If the government becomes the lawbreaker, it breeds contempt for law; it invites every man to become a law unto himself; it invites anarchy.” – Louis D. Brandeis.

Based on Logistics; The Lagos state government broke the law!

The Lagos state government had been demolishing this community for the past five months and nobody was willing to start a discussion, not even the #BBNaija voters, Sad!

Ask Nigerians to sign a petition against the demolition of Otodo Gbame – you might not get up to 5 thousand people willing to do that. However, if these same people are asked to vote against this demolition for #30 per vote or even #1 per vote, many people who voted during the #BBNaija will not vote against the demolition of Otodo Gbame.

If you spend your money and time to vote during the #BBNaija reality show and you can say you don’t have anything to say about what’s going on in #OtodoGbame – based on logistics orí é tí daru!

Calculate the #30 you spend every day to vote for your favourite house mate during #BBNaija show and give everything to support the poor community!

Now, Lagos state government has proven to be the worst “land grabber”.

The Lagos state government role in the displacement and neglect of residents in Otodo Gbame is prioritising the “megacity” interest over citizens’ welfare, right to housing and equally restricting movement in the state.

At this point, it is imperative to reiterate to Governor Akinwunmi Ambode that he can’t price Megacity above the survival of ordinary people!

Based on Logistics; Community building is the soul of governance – Build not destroy!

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Op–ed pieces and contributions are the opinions of the writers only and do not represent the opinions of Y!/YNaija

The author tweets @olawoye_dotun