– Demolished house owners in Akute/Ojodu/Ajuwon weep
How do you console a septuagenarian who had his only property, after years of retirement, demolished while it was still raining early in the morning? What advice would you give a family man who had to send his wife and children to the house of another neighbor and now sleeps inside a car? How do you tell a graduate who had been searching for job for five years and when he eventually gathered some money to start a dry cleaning business, the space that also served as his apartment was demolished?
All these questions and more remained unanswered as the residents of Ajuwon, Akute, Alagbole and Yakoyo areas of Ogun State woke up on Monday, October 21, 2013 to behold their belongings as their properties being demolished to pave way for the dualization of the road. From the young to the old, the same song of woes, regrets, despair, uncertainty and hopelessness filled their mouths. They have been exposed, humiliated, oppressed, betrayed, left uncared for and with nothing as hoodlums and scavengers now take over their properties. They have also become an easy prey to men of the under world as their gates and fences were bought to their knees. Children held unto their parents for solutions which they could not provide. It was indeed a sympathetic situation all over the affected areas.
YES International!’s GBENGA SHABA was in the area on Friday, October 25, 2013, between 5pm and 6.25pm, to speak to the affected occupants of the demolished buildings, shops, churches and warehouses. Their tales of woes…
Olushola Olugbenga (Motor Mechanic)
“My wife and children now squat with another family while I sleep every night inside a customer’s car”. That was the agonizing statement from a forty-something year old motor mechanic whose workshop, which also served as his home, was demolished. “We were given one year notice, starting from January/February, that all the buildings were marked. But they should have informed us to pack, at least, before they brought their bulldozers. In fact, the second marking which affected so many houses was done barely a month ago, when the construction engineers said they needed to erect a new bridge. We are now homeless and have nothing to do to sustain ourselves and they are not ready to pay us compensation. I only came around to check if there is still any useful thing under my rubbles”.
Wale (Filling Station attendant)
Another big casualty was the OANDO filling station at Odo junction in Alagbole. The station had been a source of concern to the people living around that area because it was built on the right of passage, thus hindering free flow of the river. It’s always water logged whenever it rains heavily, so its demolition calls for applause. But as a source of livelihood to some young Nigerians, one of them who could not help but sob simply identified himself as Adewale. “I can’t believe my source of livelihood is gone! How do I start searching for job again? I pay my house rent and finance my education from my little salary here and now it is no more, without any promise of a new job! It is so sad because we never believed it could affect the whole station. Although we had cease been instructed to sell all the fuel available since the demolition started on Monday, October 21 and now this place will cease to be”.
Tioluwani Matthew (Fashion Designer)
“I owned a shop here before the demolition. I had been trying all I could to secure another place, but the ones I saw were either too hidden or the prices too exorbitant. I rushed down here on Monday morning inside the rain when I heard the demolition exercise had commenced and fortunately for me, I was able to pack some of my things; most especially my customers’ clothing materials. Although they had given us enough notice, the time they came was too sudden”.
Mr. Jimoh Akeem (Retired Civil Engineer)
For Mr. Jimoh, a septuagenarian and a retired engineer, it was agonizing. “All that I worked for before I retired had been destroyed! They demolished the 3 bedroom flat that housed me, my wife, my son and his wife. Now, I have nothing on earth again! I cried when my house was brought down on Monday and since then, I have been living under another man’s roof. I rear domestic animals like fouls and goats. I had to kill them to make meal for me and my family or sell them. Where do they want me to start from at my age? They should have paid us our compensation before coming to demolish our houses. In fact, my house was not marked when they came last year, because according to the survey, my house would back the proposed Alagbole/Odo bridge. But last month, they came again that they needed a straight bridge and this necessitated the marking of my house. Now, I’m exposed to the cruel world of uncertainty. There is no security again for the people of this area because our fences and gates have been broken”.
Baba Akeem (Landlord)
“We got the Federal Government land acquisition approval during the Babangida regime, yet Amosun’s government demolished our homes without paying us any compensation first. My house was brought down before my own eyes and I was helpless. I felt as if the whole world came crumbling on me. I felt dizzy seeing my sweat and labour for years going down before my very eyes. It was really painful. I did not see this coming. We thought they would come formally to announce to us when the exercise would begin so that we can savage most of our belongings. Now, we have nowhere to hide our heads. In fact, some of our tenants had to collect their rent, to go elsewhere. It’s so sad. I don’t even know what to say”.
Henry Chukwueke (Dry Cleaner)
“My plan was to hustle till the end of the year and pack my things, because I had the premonition that they might come for the demolition in January, but they came all of a sudden. I’m even grateful they allowed me to pack my belongings. My shop was marked since last year, but before then, I had paid for 2 years which elapses in February 2014. Now, I have to start all over again because I have packed all my equipments back home”.
Mr. Olawale Josiah (Okada Rider)
“My wife and children just packed in here about five months ago and as at that time, our house was not marked for demolition. Where do I move into now? All my savings had been used for rent here. Now, my landlord is also crying that his house has been destroyed. So, how do I get my money to rent another house? My landlord said no compensation has been paid, so I cannot get my money back. Inasmuch as I would have cherished this exercise, the execution was very bad”.
Mr. Nuhu Aruwa (Retired Civil Servant)
“It is agonizing to see my house of 26 years going down without compensation and this is all I’ve worked for”. The 60- something year old man was visibly shaking as he was narrating his ordeal. His friends and colleagues gathered around him to console him because he had one of the most beautiful houses in the area. His house, a four flat storey building, was built with ceramic blocks whose value is costlier. He narrates his ordeal: “Some houses were marked around February/March 2012 for road expansion and I was not affected, but the construction company now came back in September 2013 that they would like to construct a new bridge between Alagbole and Yakoyo bus stop and that was how my house was affected. The Ogun State government told us to come to Oke Mosan in Abeokuta to lay our complains, but those that went came back without anything. The most painful part of it was that Governor Amosun was here on Sunday, October 20, 2013 to inspect the road construction and we all waited for him to address us, but to our surprise, all what he said was that the demolition would start the following day, Monday, October 21 and he left. He should have given us time even though we knew the demolition had become inevitable. At least, for us to pack our loads and arrange for a new life outside our only hope”.
Mrs. Olushola (Medicine Store Owner)
“I don’t want my drugs to expire. This is my investment and my family’s source of livelihood”. Mrs. Olushola was seen arranging her remaining goods on a table after her shop had been destroyed. She, with her children, got frightened and nearly scattered the well arranged drugs when we visited because they feared we were government officials who had come to cart away their goods. They only decided to talk to us after we had presented our identity card. She said, “This is all I live for. My children and I stay in the shop to attend to our customers. You can ask anybody in the vicinity, they would tell you how big and well stocked this medicine store was before it was brought down. We have decided to display the remaining drugs because they might expire if left unsold and people all around here still come over to patronize us because we are the best and the biggest around here, but now our source of livelihood is fast running dry. After the sales of all these on display, I won’t sell again until I’m able to rent another shop, maybe for other business”.
Iya Eji (Food Seller)
“My husband’s house and my shop were destroyed. Now hoodlums and scavengers have taken over our properties. We are exposed, no security for our lives and our packed properties. The government promised to send mobile policemen to guard our properties, but it’s all a lie. All the gates and fences they demolished made robbery incidents very easy. Scavengers flood our properties everyday and there is little or nothing we can do about it. As much as we desired the expansion of these roads, the implementation is very bad; politically motivated, because if you look at the topography of the road, it should have claimed the Bible Way Church, but I heard the owner was a former CBN top executive and now a stalwart of the Action Congress of Nigeria. In fact, he was the one that housed the foreign construction engineers here with adequate security for them and that was why instead of diverting the demolition to that side of the road, it was diverted here and those of us that got our houses marked about a month ago are now the direct victims”.