Residents of the Magodo GRA Phase II Estate in Lagos on Thursday sent a Save-Our-Souls-and-Properties message to Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu, following the alleged invasion of the estate and threat to residents’ safety and security due to incessant forceful access by unauthorised persons to the wetlands around the estate.
The residents disclosed that land speculators and developers, reportedly aided by top officials of Lagos State Physical Planning and Urban Development, have decided on building the wetland and bent on making an incursion through Magodo Phase II. They alleged that the plan is a direct threat to the environment, safety and security of a community with over 16,000 residents, who have lived peacefully and secured in the estate for more than three decades.
The residents called for Sanwo-Olu’s urgent intervention “to forestall the breakdown of law and order in the estate and the state” by elements said to have been aided by top functionaries of the state government.
The Magodo GRA Phase II Estate Residents Association made the appeal to the state governor on Thursday during a press conference addressed by its Chairman, Engr. Sheriff Daramola, in the company of the Board of Trustees of the Central Consultative Council, Central Management Council, executive members and residents of the estate.
Daramola implored the state government to desist from any plan to build link roads to the wetland through Magodo Phase II Estate but instead construct a road from the Otedola underpass which is currently free of development and unencumbered.
He said that in the last six months, residents had experienced serial vandalisation of vehicles, theft cases and criminal activities as a result of exposure to the wetland by land speculators and developers who were bent on making an incursion therein through the estate.
Daramola, who commended state Commissioner for the Environment, Mr. Tokunbo Wahab for his recent visit to Magodo Phase II where he emphasised the significance of the wetland and its implications for development, wondered why the Commissioner for Physical Planning, Dr. Oluyinka Olumide, wants land speculators and developers to have access to the wetland through Magodo estate.
He said: “We commend Mr. Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, for his unwavering support and commitment to his promises not to allow access through the wetlands from Magodo Phase II in our tripartite meeting in the past and in his support to ensure continuous peace in our Magodo Phase II community and Lagos State as a whole.
“Mr. Governor, sir, we have those that are warming up to distort and destroy the peace and harmony we enjoy in Magodo Phase II; to add to the security concerns in the estate and Lagos State by forcefully planning to access the wetland through Magodo Phase II despite alternative routes listed outside Magodo Phase II. Accessing the wetland through Magodo Phase II shall create further damage and shall be colossal”.
A former Lagos State Commissioner for Physical Planning and Urban Development, Mr. Francisco Abosede, who is a resident in the Magodo GRA Phase II Estate, said the wetland amongst other ecological benefits served as a natural storm collector and flood control container for all stormwater from Agidingbi, Ikeja, Ogba, Alausa, as it had also shielded Magodo from soil erosion, flooding and flood-related diseases and disasters over the decades.
He said forcing access to the wetland through Magodo Phase II in the proposed urban development scheme would have consequences for the existence of Magodo Phase II and its residents, adding that using Magodo GRA Phase II to access the wetland is to destroy the fragile infrastructure the residents have collectively managed and maintained and with supports from the the state government.
A journalist and resident in the estate, Mr. Mojeed Jamiu urged Sanwo-Olu to caution Olumide and other government officials, from allowing land speculators and developers to have access to the wetland through the estate.
“Why we are calling for Mr. Governor’s intervention is the fact that we have a Commissioner of Physical Planning, Dr. Oluyinka Olumide, who is supporting the Omo Onile (land grabbers); who backed them to pull down our structure and two weeks later, a Commissioner for the Environment, Mr. Tokunbo Wahab came here and said no to any building on wetland. So, we have conflicting signals from two commissioners of the same government. So, we want Mr. Governor, who is also a surveyor and understands the terrain to intervene.
“The governor should intervene and call his commissioner to order because we can see that there are selfish interests involved. The Commissioner for Physical Planning is backing omo onile against an estate of over 16,000 people. We want Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu, who we know is upright and true to his word, to come to our rescue and give a clear directive on who we are to obey between the Commissioner for Environment and Commissioner for Physical Planning”.
