Apex Igbo sociocultural group, Ohanaeze Ndigbo has appealed to President Bola Tinubu to prevail on the Lagos State Government to temper justice with mercy in its planned demolition of some distressed buildings inside the popular Alaba International Market.
The Babajide Sanwo-Olu administration in Lagos, on Friday, commenced the process of demolishing distressed buildings housing some shops within the market located in Ojo Local Government Area.
The state government said 17 buildings would be affected.
The exercise is being jointly executed by the enforcement teams of the Lagos State Building Control Agency (LASBCA) and the Lagos State Task Force.
General Manager of LASBCA, Gbolahan Oki, who visited the market, said that the affected buildings had been marked for demolition many times since 2016 but the occupants disregarded the notices.
He said that his visit was to issue final warnings and vacation notices to occupants of the buildings marked for demolition, noting that the exercise was necessary to avert disaster.
In a reaction, Ohanaeze’s Secretary-General, Okechukwu Isiguzoro, warned Igbos in Lagos State to stop playing bad politics, saying there was no way such would not have a negative effect on their businesses in the state.
“We have been informed that the demolition of some parts of Alaba International Market has began; most of those who called us said they were given only three hours.
“Most of them complained that they are being witch-hunted due to the 2023 general elections; they complained that they are systematically trying to make them leave Lagos by destroying their properties.
“We want to beg Mr President to call Sanwo-Olu that the best thing to do at this point is to temper justice with mercy. We would not accept that this is a political witch-hunt or issue threats on the crisis that has befallen Igbos in Lagos.
“At this moment in time, Igbos should stop politics and concentrate on what they are looking for in Lagos.
“Ohanaeze has already told Igbos to relocate the headquarters of their businesses back home to have a fallback position when politics are targeted against them.
“Our Republicanism should end in the Southeast; they should not take it to Lagos. Some people threatened Igbos to leave Lagos, but we won’t leave any part of Nigeria for anybody because we have contributed to the development and building of economies with every state and local government in Nigeria.
“Igbos are Nigerians, so Ohanaeze is saying that the demolition of Alaba International Market is a wake-up call for Ndigbos to come and invest in Enyimba economic city.
“Ndigbos should stay in Lagos, but they should stop playing bad politics because it’s affecting their businesses.
“We supported Sanwo-Olu during the elections, even when Tinubu lost Lagos, so we urge him to halt further demolition of Alaba and other Igbo-populated markets as this would make Igbos to continue supporting Asiwaju’s government and make him to succeed,” Daily Post quoted the Ohanaeze scribe as saying on Saturday.
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