His Royal Highness, Eze Chika Nwokedi, and members of the Council of Ndieze in Lagos State on Thursday visited the Alaba International Market in Ojo Local Government Area of the state to ascertain the level of destruction of traders’ shops by the Lagos State Building Control Agency, LASBCA, accompanied by the Lagos State Task Force.
The team comprised Ezes from the Local Government Areas in the State and other well-meaning Igbo stakeholders including the media, was received by the President-General of Alaba International Market, Chief Mbonu Geoffrey, and some of his executives.
In his remark, the chairman of the Council of Ndieze, Eze Nwokedi disclosed that the visit was a fact-finding mission to ascertain the level of destruction of the property in the market and to find a way to assuage the pains of the affected traders.
After being conducted round with his entourage to the affected areas, the royal father expressed shock over the level of damage caused by the demolition and promised to meet with the Lagos State Governor, Mr. Babajide Sanwo-Olu, to engage him on the matter, noting that he may not have been properly briefed about what happened and the level of dislocation it has caused the traders.
The royal father explained that he recently assumed the leadership of the Council of Ndieze in Lagos State and solicited the support of Ndigbo, stating that he accepted to lead Ndieze essentially to change the narrative and to also ensure that the interest of Ndigbo in Lagos State is protected at all times.
He said that Ndieze had created several programs for Ndigbo in Lagos State, one of which is free legal services provided by setting up an office and hiring lawyers who would represent Ndigbo in legal matters in the State on pro-bono.
The royal father, however, advised Ndigbo to always apply caution and conduct a diligent investigation before buying any property in Lagos State and ensure that they abide by the laws of Lagos State.
Responding, the President General of the market, Chief Geoffrey, expressed gratitude to Eze Nwokedi and his entourage for coming to the market to sympathize with the traders, which he described as commendable, stressing that what happened was still a shock to him and the leadership of the market including the traders because the traders had good relationships with both the Ojo Local Government and the State government respectively.
Chief Geoffrey stated that he traveled to the East when he received calls that hundreds of armed Police officers with the Lagos State Government agency, LASBCA, came to the market to paste 24 hours’ notice of demolition to the traders to present their documents on the properties in the area, which many did.
He stated further that some of the traders actually presented their documents to the authority who ignored them and went ahead to carry out their mission to demolish about 37 buildings comprising hundreds of shops owned by Ndigbo.
The market leader stated that he did not suspect that the demolition was politically motivated because the traders had a good relationship with the Ojo Local Government and Lagos State government respectively.
However, he stated that the manner the demolition took place suggested that there was a sinister motive behind the act because a company had been sharing flyers over the construction of a mall in the demolished parcels of the land.