The people of Otodo Gbame are no longer to be pitied, they now have a right

by Alexander O. Onukwue

When the law is on your side, you can do no wrong, and for the people of Otodo Gbame who won a victory at the court against the Lagos State Government, they have never been more on the right.

Displaced and rendered more impoverished than they already were by Lagos State Government’s forceful evictions and demolitions, many residents have been cut off from their small businesses and means of survival, from small barber shops to kiosks that held household food items in small scales. The massive evictions that have been carried out since November of 2016 pulled down the barely habitable little shelters where the residents have managed to keep themselves safe and away from the vulnerabilities of harsh weather conditions, especially in the ever wet climate of Lagos.

With the ruling that the evictions have been unconstitutional, it does bring a huge sigh of relief for the inhabitants of Otodo Gbame and other waterfront communities. The refusal by the Lagos Government to cease evictions after previous rulings had declared them “inhuman” would have made the residents feel blamed for their poverty and low-state. However, the highest law of the land now stands with them.

It should have been enough that the evictions were perceived as inhuman, but now they have also definitively been defined as against the rights of those citizens. Now, they are not just to be pitied, but treated rightly.

As it was stated in the ruling of Justice Onigbangbo, the ownership of the land which the Otodo Gbame community occupies is not in dispute. But while the land belonged to the Government, the means of livelihood established on it was the creation of residents of the community. Hence, while seeking a resettlement plan, the Government should re-establish the illegally destroyed structures and shelters with which the people survived in the little ways they could.

It would not be enough for the Government to negotiate the arrangement of a resettlement while the people are in desperate living conditions. That would put them in a more powerless position, making them susceptible to accepting conditions that may be further below their dignity.

Rebuilding the Otodo Gbame communities’ shelters and livelihoods to the state they were before the wrong evictions would be the only way the ruling delivered on the 21st of June would fully serve Justice to the people.

The people of Otodo Gbame are no longer to be pitied, they now have a right.

Leave a reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

cool good eh love2 cute confused notgood numb disgusting fail