Protesters storm Lagos governor's office, decry police harassment

Activities at the offices of the Lagos State Governor and House of Assembly were on Tuesday paralysed as residents of Otodo-Gbame Community, Eti-Osa Local Government, stormed the governor’s office in protest over killing and demolition of over 800 structures within the community.

The protest was the second after the first held on Monday by the residents, to express their displeasure over the demolition of structures in the over 100 year-old community.

Both entrances to the office of Governor Akinwunmi Ambode and the House of Assembly were barricaded.

Scores of protesters also barricaded the Mobolaji Johnson Way and governor’s road as they chanted several songs to express the hardship they had been subjected to.

This development prompted the policemen attached to the office to shoot at the protesting residents to scare them away from the entrance.

“Officials of the Directorate of State Security (DSS) shot in the air to scare us. They almost ran-over us with their cars. But we have resolved to continue to barricade the entrance until we get assurance from the governor or his deputy, directing the police to leave their community,” said Mr. Muhammed Zana, who spoke on behalf of the protesters.

Moses Dansu, son to the Baale of Otodo-Gbame community, lamented that he does not know where his family was, saying “My family is scattered. I don’t know where they are at the moment. My father, the baale has been arrested without any charge.

“I voted for the All Progressives Congress (APC) to come into power but I am disappointed that the party has come back to demolish our houses. I am a barber in the community. All my tools have been set ablaze by the police. I don’t know where to start. At the moment, I only have one cloth and shoe left and that is what I have on me.”

The residents under the aegis of Nigerian Slum/Informal Settlement Federation, alleged that this month, the police came back with a bulldozer and began to set the houses ablaze, adding: “Despite calls from higher levels of the police, including the Complaints Response Unit and others, there was no respite to protect lives and properties.”

Dansu decried that the police had been visiting the community since last week and allegedly set the structures ablaze.

He said that on Sunday, the police stormed the community and set the structures left ablaze, adding that they also visited the community on Monday and chased the residents away to set fire on the structures they found within the community.