By Akinwale Kasali
After several Save Our Soul appeals Governor Babajide Olusola Sanwo Olu, the Inspector General of Police, IGP, Kayode Egbetokun and Political Stakeholders, the Lagos State Government remained defiant and finally demolished the Police Officers’ Wives Association Shopping Complex in the Computer Village, Ikeja area of Lagos.
The demolition exercise which took place in the early hours of Sunday, December 31, 2023, saw Traders counting their loses as they struggled to gather some of their properties from the rubbles.
Counting their loses, The Chairman, Computer Dealers Association, in Computer Village, Tayo Shittu, said the demolition began around 12 am in the early hours of Sunday morning, as they were caught unawares, though, the LASG has informed it had no intention to demolish the Complex.
According to Shittu, “ Around 12 am, I was called that about 300 policemen had stormed our plaza with up to three bulldozers that they were bringing down our plaza. The whole plaza, Phase 1 and 2, has been brought down. We are talking of about 300 shops, more than 1000 occupants. In some shops, we have two, three or five people.
“We are not feeling good at all. A lot of our members have travelled for the Christmas holidays. If at all it was supposed to happen, there must be a roundtable discussion. They just came suddenly and brought everything down.”
Some of the Traders couldn’t hold back tears as they counted their loses. Millions of Naira worth of properties and goods were destroyed.
Lamenting their loses, a Trader, Omobayo Azeez, said, “Around 12 am on Sunday, over 200 heavily armed police officers stormed the place. According to eyewitnesses, they blocked all entrances to the place and sent away anyone around.”
In the same vein, another shop owner, identified simply as Emeka, who also spoke with PUNCH Metro, said traders lost valuable goods to the demolition.
Emeka said, “Goods including air conditioning systems, inverters, solar panels, burglary, and laptops were taken away. They used hammers to break in and collected valuables before they started breaking. As we moved around here, we could not find some of the things we left. Two months ago, the Lagos State Government came here and collected taxes from all of us but the appreciation they could show us for electing them and paying our taxes is to come and demolish our businesses. Many people working under us are out of jobs. They are sending another set of Lagosians to the IDP camps.”
It was gathered that over 1,000 Traders are been rendered jobless with the demolition, as Shittu lament the inconsiderate gesture of Governor Sanwo Olu, and its insensitivity to the plights of the traders.
Also, this news medium was reliably informed that the Government with armed policemen allegedly stormed the plaza on Thursday afternoon, to give them a 24-hour deadline to vacate the over 300 shops in the POWA complex, and came early Sunday morning to wreck havoc.
