Sagamu residents kick against illegal demolishes hotel, houses at Chinese company

By Mercy James, Abeokuta

Residents of Ajegunle / Araromi community in Makun, Sagamu Local Government Area of Ogun state on Thursday kicked against the demolition of their houses by the officials of the state government.

Residents of the community woke up to the shrieking sound of bulldozers as officials of the state Bureau of Lands and Survey accompanied by armed policemen stormed their community pulling down their structures.

The angry residents who were wailing and chanting anti-government songs, lamented that the government did not give them any prior notice before demolishing their houses.

They alleged that the government demolished their houses after selling their land to a Chinese company for industrial purpose without paying them compensation.

The residents were armed with placards with inscriptions, such as: "Ajegunle, Araromi community must exist, please save our soul", "Dapo Abiodun, save us, respect court injunction" and "We have no where to go", among others. 

Speaking on behalf of the protesters, the legal adviser to the community, Oduwole Olusoga lamented that, the government failed to obey a court injunction refraining it from demolishing their houses.

Olusoga said, "We have a court injunction refraining the state government from doing this dastard act that they have taken today.

"There is a subsisting court injunction, we served them, we did everything and there was so many interventions, but despite all, the government went ahead to demolished our houses.

"The Chinese man the government sold our land to has been boasting around, he said he sponsored Dapo Abiodun's second term election, that there is nothing we have, that the will pulled this place down.

"Even with a court injunction, they took this step, we are still in court. Multimillion investments are being destroyed, look at what they down to our property.

"The Chinese man has he own factory, but he is interested in taking over everything, the governor should please safe our soul.

"They did not allow us access into our property, they are pulling everything down, our belongings are still inside.

"We want our land, we don't want compensation even when they have demolished our structures, we want our land, let them give us back our land. 

"We have not been compensated. There was no notification, the government did not notify us before destroying our structures.

"We have written several letters to the governor's office, to the Bureau of Lands and serving them the court injunction refraining them from taking any action on the land".

When contacted for reaction, the Director General of Bureau of Lands and Survey, Segun Fowora denied comment, saying "the government will address the press at appropriate time."