The Makoko demolition is an elitist agenda – Femi Falana

by Isi Esene

The activist lawyer, Femi Falana has condemned the Lagos State government’s action of giving Makoko residents a 72 hours quit notice on a Friday and then forcefully evicting the people on Monday the 16th.

According to the Premium Times, Falana lashed out at the Fashola administration saying it is “promoting murder, orchestrating a massive internal displacement of citizens through forceful eviction, and waging a war of impunity against poor people”.

While reacting to the killing of the assistant Baale of Makoko, Mr. Timothy Huntoyanwha, during a peaceful protest against their eviction, he said the Lagos State Government should be “held vicariously liable in the circumstance” which he described as a “willful destruction of properties… that is illegal and unconstitutional.”

“Those whose houses have been by destroyed the government are equally entitled to compensation that is fair and just,” he added.

He said this is a “violation of the State Rent Control and Recovery of Premises law that have criminalised the forceful ejection any person resident in Lagos State without an order issued by a competent court and executed by the Sheriff and Bailiff of the court.”

Mr. Falana concluded by observing that what the state government appears to be doing is to capitalise on the poverty of the Makoko people by confiscating their marsh land and developing it with public funds with a view to redistributing it to the elites, a theory which brings the Maroko demolition to mind.

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